Ashes to Ashes
by Krivoklatsko
Summary: When team RWBY discovers recordings from Mountain Glenn, they are hurled into a conflict years in the making. Alternate V3.
1. In Atlas

It was common but sad when Grimm seized a lone person in the snow blinds. It was rarer and more tragic when people turned on each other.

The blizzard that cast its blanket over Atlas left behind a crimson stain. And for a family in a castle, alone on their hill, the cold became that much less bearable.

The report of the death was addressed to Castle Schnee, penned by a friendly hand, and handed by security to the master of the house.

Mr. Jacque Schnee had restricted outside communication for the sake of the holidays. He didn't care to open another card.

But he'd also grown tired of his daughter's excuses. Weiss was nine and already talking as much as her older sister. The inanity- the disrespect, made her hard to focus on.

"Practicing is boring," Weiss whined.

He thought the frustration was unbearable. Then he opened the letter.

His monocle fell and jangled on its chain, and the letter fell from a shaking hand.

Weiss knew, from his expression, to stop talking. Jacque gripped her by the shoulder and, with a rough push, made her about-face. Another nudge between her shoulders put her in front of a full-length mirror.

He shouted. "Look at yourself! This is your birthright! Like a Faunus, you are born into a position, and you cannot escape it! You are what you are, and if you fail to be that, you will die!"

She folded a lip under her teeth, and one hand into another. She found her father's eyes in the mirror.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered.

Weiss was diminutive beside him. Her older sister, Winter, had developed muscle at this age. Weiss was a pudgy skeleton. She'd inherited the family's striking albino hair, but none of their other, more intimidating, features.

She didn't know what she'd done to provoke him. She knew he didn't like whining. He didn't like when she evaded practice. But she'd never seen him berserk over those topics before.

Jacque tried to swallow his rage. When the lump finally went down his throat, he growled, "I suppose Schwarz was bored in his studies as well! He's just been murdered in the street by a handful of Faunus thugs! Dammit! DAMNIT!"

His hand accompanied the outburst, crushing a vase against the wall. The pain of glass shards in his hand was temporary. It faded as soon as his aura pushed them out and closed the wound. But his brother would be gone forever. By an act of discipline, his composure returned, and he was reminded of what he could do. He squared his shoulders and placed a hand on his daughter.

"Your studies are a matter of life and death. If that bores you, I can disown you and give you a safe, comfortable job in the CCT."

She was too young to fully comprehend the consequences. Her eyes lit up, tempered by a vague and untrained caution.

"The Cross-Continental Transmitter?"

She looked hopefully over her shoulder to him, like a sloth finding a fruit on the branch above.

He said, "Yes. Now look in the mirror."

Weiss squared her shoulders, and she channeled her excitement into studious attentiveness.

He said, "Repeat after me: 'Welcome to the CCT. How may I direct you?'"

Weiss did not obey. She thought, tried to understand, and asked, "Why would the overseer practice saying that?"

"You're practicing to be the receptionist," Mr. Schnee explained, "And if you won't practice with your weapon, then I expect you to excel at your new role. Now, practice. I will evaluate you in ten minutes."

He turned on his heel and left her there. He heard her recital beginning, and tuned out the sound of her voice. He was oblivious when she stopped and snuck after him.

Mr. Schnee found his wife in the parlor. Nival always busied herself with inspection and introspection. Her hands traversed a vase to inspect a wilted flower. Her eyes followed the snowflakes buffeting the windows. The Schnee Estate was blanketed in that soft silence.

"There's someone coming up the road," she noted.

Mr. Schnee looked past her, through the window, to the far hill. Traveling lights announced an automobile no more than ten minutes out from the driveway.

"Schwarz is dead," he murmured. "No doubt someone's coming to console us."

Nival saw his reflection in the window, his pain, and she turned to support him. She comforted his cheek with a delicate hand.

"I heard. I can prepare a bouquet for Violet."

"She's gone, too."

She hesitated. It was foolish of her to forget. Tragedies come in threes.

Jacques' eyes had steeled on another topic. "Faunus," he muttered.

"Is it another... _Large_ attack? Should we-"

"The Shadow Pact. All of them. So they can't be here." He wrapped his arms around her.

"It's nothing that should get me so worked up this time," he admitted.

"You can mourn the loss of family without excuse," she murmured.

Her eyes shot up to his from the hug. "But you do owe Weiss an apology. You lost your temper with her. She thinks she's done something wrong."

She waited for Jacque to nod in agreement, then proceeded to praise. "I see the bunk beds have been erected. Have you told her yet?"

"No. It should be a surprise. Weiss passed the entrance exams for combat school. Barely, but she passed. And Apple is completing her thesis at the Academy in Mountain Glenn. So they've earned it."

The distraction was welcome. His head shook, and he released his wife to look her in the eye.

"Of all the things. Bunk beds?"

"Well… Apple is only fourteen, and Weiss is nine, and… They like each other. They want to have bunks together."

"But how could they decide on a thing like that before they've even met?"

He let confusion draw him away from the pain. His wife smiled.

"Honey, Weiss has been alone since Winter left for Leadership Academy. When Weiss learned her cousin would be coming here, she looked like the whole world had been gifted to her. She said she hoped it was forever."

"It is now."

"And don't you breathe a word about their deaths when Apple gets here. She'll have been told enough already."

"I know. It seems family has to be guarded more jealously than gold in these times. Still... To have the simple worries of a child. Bunk beds," he scoffed.

"We live in a castle," his wife reminded him. "It can be lonely."

The doorbell sounded.

"And guests," she continued, "even mourners, are a welcome treat."

She pulled him to the door, where they greeted two officers.

Nival recognized, "James?"

She turned her confusion to her husband.

Mr. Schnee looked at his friend, Captain James Ironwood, and was just as surprised.

"James, I thought you were engaged at the State Department- at the Capitol, I mean. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Ironwood and his secondary stepped into the foyer. They wore full dress, and the secondary carried an ornate box in both hands.

Ironwood said, "Good evening, Mr. Schnee, and Misses."

The Schnees looked at the box, then back to Ironwood. Mr. Schnee nodded.

"I'm sorry to steal your thunder, Captain, but I've already heard about Schwarz. You are welcome to stay. I would greatly appreciate the company."

There was silence while Captain Ironwood thought. He was navigating the tact of an unforeseen situation.

"Would it be alright if we sat down?" he suggested.

They returned to the parlor and demanded privacy from the servants. Jacque could tell the old injuries were still bothering his friend. Captain Ironwood never relaxed his posture, and always sat favoring his haunches to his tailbone.

Ironwood's right pant leg rested thinner than the left, and his right shoulder didn't heave with his breaths. A patch of skin had never fully regrown on his right brow, where his dura-steel skull was visible like a badge. Otherwise, the uniform hid his cybernetic half very well.

It was when they seated that Mr. Schnee's mind caught up. His eyes found the lapel on Ironwood, and he realized aloud, "Goodness. Are you a Major now?"

Ironwood nodded. "Yes, Sir. As of yesterday."

"Well, at least we have some good news to-"

"-Sir."

Jacque's mouth snapped shut, and he understood, finally, what was happening.

"The Secretary of the Ambassadorial Administration has asked me to express deep regret that your niece, Apple Schnee, was killed in action in Mountain Glenn this morning during an attack by creatures of Grimm."

Mr. Schnee covered his mouth. He was able to break eye contact with Major Ironwood and look at the box on the table.

Nival cried out as if struck a mortal blow, and desperately gripped her husband.

Jacque coped with outrage. "Those Grimmdamned Vale Huntsmen aren't up to spec! She was working in the core of the city! She was- Am I right?! Ironwood, where was she?!"

Ironwood had gathered everything that was known in the last hour. "Mr. Schnee, the Kingdom of Vale signaled distress over the CCT network at oh-four-hundred this morning. Due to the severity of the threat, Mountain Glenn began a voluntary evacuation. Atlas immediately began to evacuate Ambassadorial staff. While most personnel were at the embassy, your niece was not. You may remember that the Mountain Glenn expansion was centered on a subnode of the CCT network. The Small Tower. The Embassy's Special Retinue Service found her there, and returned her to the Embassy. I have spoken personally with Captain Gray, the military commander at the embassy. He was sitting next to your niece on the last bullhead to leave. He says your niece leaped from the craft during takeoff and could not be safely recovered."

"She..."

Too many questions. Jacque wrapped his arms around his wife and buried her tears in his chest.

"But... She… She fell from the craft? She's a Huntress, James! She has an aura! Do not tell me she died from a fall! I refuse to believe it!"

Ironwood wore a strange expression. He was trying to convey sympathy. He was hiding fear.

"Have you checked the news today, Sir?"

"No. It's the Vytal festival. I... We like to keep this time for family."

Ironwood licked his lips and swallowed. "Sir, Mountain Glenn's defenses were overwhelmed at ten this morning. Vale CCT has been non-responsive since then. At 1530, the Evacuated Embassy staff arrived in the Capitol and I was notified. And now we're here."

Weiss stepped up to the table.

Ironwood leaned back, startled at her appearance. She was almost in his lap, staring intently at the ornate box.

She pointed. "What's that?"

Ironwood presented it to her. "Captain Gray attempted to stop your cousin when she fled the craft. She was wearing a necklace."

He revealed it, a petite crystal chain bearing an apple charm.

Mr. Schnee leaned forward into Ironwood's space. "James, you said the soldiers had to leave. Why? Why aren't they looking for her?"

Ironwood had lowered his gaze to Weiss. It took him a great effort to raise his eyes to Mr. Schnee. The Major could no longer hide it. His pupils were gathered as tiny dots. Every hair on his body stood on end.

"We received our first reconnaissance report at 1300 today, when a Vacuo scout team returned. There are more Grimm in Mountain Glenn than there are humans in the whole of Remnant. Their motions are coordinated. As of now, it appears that the Grimm have organized and mobilized."

He swallowed again, waiting for Schnee to understand.

Nival whimpered, "James, are you saying...? Are you saying that Mountain Glenn is overrun?"

Ironwood set the box on the table and straightened his uniform. "Until we hear otherwise, the military is assuming the worst. Vale has fallen."

And with it, a whole quarter of the globe.


	2. Roses

Qrow Branwen unwrapped a cigarette carton and lit his first. The sun dipped and settled off Beacon Academy's cliffs. He reckoned by the star that he'd arrived two hours early. After it set, he reckoned by the cigarettes.

He turned South and spied the jagged skyline haunting the horizon: Mountain Glenn. It had been a decade, almost to the day. The buildings stood empty, the blood dried. But the screams still echoed in empty streets. Several friends had left skeletons there.

He put the Glenn behind him, and faced North. Below Beacon's plateau, The Emerald City of Vale sparkled with nightlife. The decadent city had survived.

He'd been living in the wild too long. In his father's day, huntsmen had worn loin cloths and Grimm bone charms. Qrow had lead a fashion trend with blue jeans and a dress shirt.

Now huntsmen- mostly women- dressed like ladies of the night- neon hues protecting them from roadside accidents. He couldn't walk down a civilized street without drawing stares. He hoped his nieces were still clothing themselves like humans.

He glanced to the top of The Tower, and wondered what Beacon Academy's Headmaster thought of the times. The Beacon was an ancient structure, Remnant's first challenge to the heavens- Now its tallest, if you included the height of the plateau. Now it served as Vale's Cross Continental Transmitter, a modernized lamp in the darkness. The architect had chosen a high gothic bell-tower aesthetic. Because Headmaster Ozpin refused to live in anything less eccentric.

Qrow shook his head, then noted the time and flicked his cigarette away.

The clock tower bells rang, and Professor Bartholomew Oobleck arrived. "Qrow!"

The professor's hair had turned a nasty green in some long gone alchemy mistake. Qrow tried not to look at it. The man had many other qualities that drew attention. It was true of all huntsmen. Oobleck had a similar fashion problem, for example. Slacks and a button down shirt, safari helm, loafers.

Oobleck talked too fast and too smart. "Qrow! And punctual. Serendipitous for me. Though you look dour. Quench your fatigue?" He offered a mug that probably had coffee.

Qrow grumbled, "I've got a headache. And I'd like to get this over with." He nodded to the dorms.

Oobleck offered the mug again. "Hair of the dog, then," he suggested.

Qrow peeked in the mug. Liquor. He'd been trying to cut back, for the nieces' sake.

Oobleck noted his sour expression, and countered, "Trust me, old friend. Now is no time to experiment with emotional states."

Qrow swigged.

Oobleck turned to the complex and patted his satchel. He'd brought a holo-screen and data slate. He presented a keycard to the door, and they were accepted into Beacon Huntsman Academy.

The hallway bore Vale's evergreen colors. Though some doors had foreign banners bracketing them. The Vytal Festival was beginning, and Vale was hosting the tournament, and foreign students.

Qrow stopped at an intersection.

Oobleck pointed to a door.

"Team RWBY" tickered across the electronic lock.

But Qrow's senses flared, and he glanced down the hall to see team JNPR. The rumor had spread of a dour professor and a stranger entering the halls.

These four students had poked their heads into the hallway. Qrow stared them down. Oobleck cast a glance and said, "Mr. Arc. Manage your team, please."

Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren's heads vanished, and they shut their door.

Qrow pulled his flask from his jacket, then remembered where he was and returned it without drinking. He looked at team RWBY's door. He wondered if he could just leave and let this moment never happen.

Oobleck recognized that thought. He offered, "They will hear it from you, or they will hear it from the media hounds."

Qrow didn't answer. He scratched at his chin stubble. He'd been about their age when reality slapped his childhood aside. He had survived. He had coped, somewhat. So would they.

He knocked.

Mirthful shrieks pierced the door. Pillows thudded. Qrow knocked again.

The door opened to reveal sixteen-year-old Weiss Schnee, snapping, " _What?_ "

She wore her older sister's sneer. Behind her, a war of feathers waged across a tangled mess of suspended beds and scattered blanket forts. Qrow pushed the door open and passed Weiss without an introduction.

"Hey!" she yelled.

"Hey," he mumbled back.

"Hey," Blake Belladonna complained from atop a bunk bed. A pillow had interrupted her reading. She threw it down. Qrow caught it.

"Heyyyyyyyy!" Ruby realized.

Yang pillowed her face in the moment of weakness. "-is for horses," she finished, adding, "Hey Uncle Qrow. And... Doctor Oobleck?"

The girls had been smiling. But their smiles faded, seeing that Qrow did not join them. They looked to Oobleck for an explanation.

The door closed.

"We should find seats," Oobleck suggested.

They circled around Oobleck's holo-screen. Qrow sat reversed in a chair.

Oobleck paced behind him, narrating. "You remember, girls, our student mission to the abandoned city of Mountain Glenn. We stumbled upon a White Fang operation which imperiled the very lives of Vale's citizens. So we boarded a train controlled by the White Fang, and we foiled their plot to breach Vale's wall and unleash a swarm of Grimm."

Qrow had not heard about this. He turned a concerned look to his nieces.

Ruby smiled and gave two thumbs up.

Yang shrugged, "All in a day's work."

Weiss interrupted, "We _Almost_ thwarted them."

Yang retorted, "We saved a lot of lives."

"A lot of people... Got hurt," Blake mumbled.

Qrow's gaze lingered on her, on the extra set of feline ears atop her head. He'd heard stories about Blake Belladonna. Unkind, she's-literally-a-terrorist stories.

"The point is," Qrow grunted. He gestured to Oobleck, "The Professor-"

"-Doctor," everyone corrected him.

Qrow licked his lips. He nodded onwards, "Doc found something while you were fighting the White Fang."

The alcohol finally hit. Qrow slowed to a comfortable drawl. He nodded to Oobleck, and caught him in his own vice. Doctor Oobleck was part-way through a swig of coffee. He gulped it down and spoke as fast as he could articulate. "Yes. Girls, the fall of Mountain Glenn may have been a little before your time, but you should know that it has never left my generation's thoughts, from the moment it happened. This was not the first time a city was annihilated by Grimm. But it was technically a suburb of Vale, and we had hoped that the Great Cities were secure. And we were wrong. Beyond that, most of the families affected are still alive. And so what I have found is very relevant to the world right now."

Blake Belladonna leaned forward, her typical sullen look turning to annoyance.

Her feline ears perked up. "Doctor… What is it?"

"A cellular phone."

Yang asked, "A what?"

"It's before your time," Oobleck explained, "But you can think of it as a primitive Scroll. Someone made a very thorough recording of the defense at Mountain Glenn on their Scroll."

Ruby Rose had figured out that they were going to watch a video. She was the only girl too young- too naïve- to wonder why.

Oobleck had never delivered a death notice. He knew, very suddenly, that he couldn't bear this with any serenity.

"I thought that you may want to see it when you can prepare yourself, when you can have family at hand. Here. Qrow, would you? I should step outside."

Qrow accepted the remote control, but would not meet anyone's eyes. When Oobleck reached the door, he flicked the lights off. Qrow thanked him. But in the silence after the door clicked shut, Qrow did not speak. Night had fallen in Vale, and the only lights in the room were their auras glowing in their eyes, and the UI of the holo-screen in their midst. Those eyes all weighed on Qrow's weary features.

In the darkness, Ruby whispered, "It's a video from Mountain Glenn?"

Qrow didn't answer.

Blake asked, "Why show it to us?"

Yang checked everyone's faces and added, "Does it... Does it have to do with the White Fang?"

Weiss was silent. Then, understanding, she covered her mouth and hoped that the shadows hid her despair. Qrow could bear it no longer. He realized that he had to face the moment, and could never be ready for it. He extended his hand and pressed play.

The camera was clearly a mobile device, from the age before shake correction. The operator was short and clumsy. Her fingers slid over the camera lens and the microphone. When she finally seemed to have it working, the camera lifted, and the scene of Mountain Glenn was fully realized. Her camera faced two soldiers, a Vale Infantry Captain and a Sergeant. Behind them were the great glass windows of the Museum. And beyond those, the undercity burned and writhed like a black ooze smothering a fire.

The Captain asked, "Are we recording?"

The camera nodded. "Yes." A young girl's voice.

The Captain looked into the camera.

"Great. Alright, this is Captain Satin Scarlatina, Vale Motorized Reserve. I don't have much to say that I haven't before, Velvet, but you've done us proud in combat school, and you'll do us proud as a huntress. Sergeant? Last words? Excuse me."

The Captain jogged off screen to join the fight. The Sergeant leaned in to speak, but was interrupted by shattering glass.

The camera panned to a gaping window, where a huntress lay prone. She groaned, stood, and dusted her white cape.

Her face came into focus. Ruby and Yang gasped, "Mom!"

The Sergeant pointed. "You alright?"

Summer Rose smiled back. "Yeah. What are you two doing here?"

She pointed at the camera.

The Sergeant shrugged. "We're trying to get some broadcasts to Vale. You want to say some words to anybody back home?"

Summer looked confused.

"Since we're all gonna die," the Sergeant explained.

Summer blushed. "Uh... I'm not really good on camera," she mumbled.

"Look, Miss, this is how people are going to remember you. Just say something for the people you want to hear it."

The camera zoomed to Summer's face. Yang and Ruby leaned in to study every curve and detail of the woman who had raised them. Qrow looked away from his fallen teammate.

"Uh... Alright," Summer smiled, "I mean..."

Summers' silver eyes met with her daughters' again, crossing a long gap of time. She smiled at them.

"I, uh... Hi, Tai. Hi Yang. Hi Ruby. I love you guys. See you home soon."

Anxiety stirred her into a rocking motion. She twirled her combat skirt and pursed her lips to indicate she was done.

"They'll appreciate that," the Sergeant nodded.

"Yeah. Well, anyway..." Summer hefted her weapon. "I'm not good at goodbyes," she admitted.

And she leaped out the window, back into the fight. The video ended there, and the dorm was cast into darkness again.

Only Blake, with her Faunus eyes, could see in the darkness of that room. They all heard her move to Yang's side, as if saving her from a fall. They heard a sniffle, and Yang's whimpered, "I love you too, Mom."


	3. Elysium

Weiss Schnee gripped her necklace and entered Doctor Oobleck's office. He scrambled across his office, threading a web of red strings, and panicked through a page of notes as if seeking an anti-venom. Each frenetic motion seemed to be racing against death, powered by caffeine and discipline. Oobleck had already explained his driving motives to Ruby- and she'd shared it with the team. His pursuit of knowledge as a historian was to save lives. Weiss didn't pretend to understand him. But she knew he would understand her presence.

She watched him work, waiting for him to notice that she'd entered. A small screen on his desk played the last moments of a soldier. He was speaking to the girl behind the phone, to Apple Schnee. And she was consoling him in return.

"What made you do it, Miss?"

"Do what?" Apple asked.

"What made you come back? You could have gotten away."

Apple hesitated. The soldier's wounds would end him soon. He did not have the look of a hopeful man.

She said, "In Atlas, we believe that self-less and noble deeds are rewarded in the afterlife."

"Elysium," he croaked.

"You've heard of it?"

The soldier nodded, and strained, "Tell me more about it."

"It's got… Grain," Apple hesitated, "and trees with exotic fruits that grow plump and sweet all year round. There are islands linked by bridges of living wood, and caverns below filled with precious metals that sing like choirs. The waters of the ocean there are perfectly clear, and so healthy that the ancient warriors who drank from it became the first aural fighters."

"Will I see my family there?"

Apple hesitated. She said, "Yes."

A tear slid down the soldier's face. And he sensed, suddenly, that his last moments were upon him. He looked into her camera and said,

"Corporal Winchester, Vale 3rd Cavalry. I have a son."

He choked, blood leaped from his mouth, and his last moments were in convulsions.

Doctor Oobleck placed a finger on his wall map, then referenced the video, and finally secured a red string to the map with a tack. He brought the string's other end to a stack of papers, and flicked through them, his eyes skimming profiles of the deceased.

He stopped. Weiss performed her introductory smile, but Oobleck hadn't seen her. He dropped the string, and used both hands to raise the picture before him.

"Oh," he said to himself.

Then he saw Weiss.

"Oh!"

But she did not answer him. The room's light passed through the picture, and Weiss saw her cousin's face in reverse. Oobleck saw the apple charm on her necklace, cradled in her fingers, and he understood. He set the picture down.

"I guess that saves me having to explain," Weiss mumbled.

Oobleck realized, in a moment of compassion, that her eyes had fallen to the video. Apple was now recording a man bleeding out and crying as someone rendered him aid. Oobleck gestured the screen off.

Weiss said, "If she... Recorded all of this. She knew people would want to see their family one last time."

Weiss told herself that she was reasoning to a conclusion. Oobleck recognized that she was hoping.

"I haven't reviewed all of the video yet, Miss Schnee," he said, his tone level.

"She wouldn't have forgotten to say something to me."

"I will tell you what I find," Oobleck promised.

"I want to see her," Weiss corrected, "like how Ruby and Yang saw Summer."

But she met a glare sturdier than her assertion, and tempered by far more experience.

He said, "It may not be like that, Miss Schnee."


	4. Blake

Blake Belladonna had a favor to return. In her moment of crisis, when she had burned the candle at both ends, Yang had returned her to sanity. Yang had been there to calm her troubles.

Now Yang needed help. Oobleck's video had opened old wounds. Blake couldn't imagine seeing her own mother's face again. But her friend just had, so she needed to rise to that challenge.

The problem was finding Yang. She wasn't at the dorm, the Vytal Festival, or with team JNPR, or punching anything expensive. It was only by a stroke of luck that she found her. Wind gusted the courtyard, and Blake followed the smell of her skin, the soft musk of her sweat, her favorite soap. Yang was hiding in the chapel on the cliffs. Students were aware of the building, but the Great War started by the gods had finished without them. Buildings like this stood in disrepair and disregard.

Blake stopped in the entryway. Stained glass windows flanked the chapel- Women in red and gold armor, cast aglow by daylight. Their amber god rays cut the darkness. Each woman, in each image, displayed a scar along her palm. Blake wandered forward, taking in the craftsmanship and admiring the echo of her low heels clicking on stone.

She saw her mother. She stopped. She blinked. One of the portraits had feline ears and feline eyes. Poised mid leap, heels kicked up and spear ready, she looked like the joyous faunus warrior. She had full cheeks and light sparkling behind her eyes. She was livelier than Blake remembered Khali- and taller. And her mother had never fought with a spear.

Blake swallowed and looked away. She was grasping at resemblances. Her feline eyes found Yang sitting on the pulpit, facing the portrait at the chapel's head: Athena Polis.

Blake whispered, "I don't think you're supposed to sit up there."

Yang hopped down and walked to a pew, where Blake joined her.

They both sat, and Blake leaned in to listen. But Yang didn't talk.

Blake kept her voice low. "I didn't think I'd find you here."

"I wanted to be alone," Yang hummed back.

"Oh."

Blake hefted the book from her lap to her arm, and stood to leave.

"But you can stay," Yang corrected.

"Thanks," Blake smiled.

She sat again, and placed the book between them. She didn't know what to do next.

Yang had more social experience. She nodded to the book. "What's it about?"

Blake placed a hand on the cover. "Third Crusade. It's a book of stories. I was going to read Lone Wolf. It's about a Faunus warrior who loses his way home during an eclipse. He's lost in the woods. Grimm beset him on all sides. But he remembers the things that matter to him about home, and he follows those feelings to a new place where he can build a new home. When I lost my parents, I used to read it to comfort myself."

Her hand rested on the cover, but her fingers reached through it, to something the book could never give her.

Yang placed a hand on Blake's. She offered it with a mellow smile. "What happened to them?"

Blake hadn't touched a soul since her team in the White Fang. She felt Yang's warmth, even her aura brushing along the contact. Blake's hair stood on end. She realized, suddenly and viciously, how much she missed affection.

Blake returned the mellow smile. Her voice quavered. "My parents moved us to Mantle, to work at one of the Schnee company mines. The wages were better. Mom said we were going to get our own house in Atlas. Not an apartment. Then the council said Faunus can't own property inside the city. They made rules about Faunus owning businesses, or riding public transit. That was when the White Fang started militarizing. They said a brave young bull had taken up arms in the woods. There were raids against the refinery. No one ever got hurt, but the Dust wasn't flowing. So Atlas decided… Faunus shouldn't be allowed to carry weapons."

"WHAT?!" Yang's shout echoed in the chapel.

Blake nodded. "Those were the times. So the protests started. The workers went on strike, and they didn't go back until they had enough rights to get by."

"Did it work? Sorry." Yang held her hands up. "Didn't mean to interrupt."

"No, it's fine. I don't know all the details. I was really young. Pretty soon, we weren't allowed to protest. And things got… Harder for everyone. I remember they took my parents away. But the rest of the miners hid me."

Blake's hand trembled against Yang's. She realized, suddenly, that she was not ready to talk about this. She skipped ahead. "There was a big accident."

Yang tilted her head forward. "Like… An _accident,_ accident?"

"No one really knows. Maybe not even the Schnees."

Blake's posture collapsed, her elbows digging into her knees and face into her hands. Yang's mouth moved, but she couldn't find words. She wrapped her arms around Blake, and let the hug say everything. They were quiet for a long while, and Blake wrapped her arm around her friend's.

"I came here to comfort _you_ ," Blake mumbled.

"I'm okay," Yang whispered.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. We can go back to the room. Will you... Will you read your book to me?"

Blake looked up from the hug and blushed. "I've… Uh… Never read out loud before," she admitted.

Yang giggled. "I know, Blake. Don't worry, I can-"

"But I'll do it," Blake asserted. She had summoned every ounce of her courage.

When they reached the room, true dread restrained her. Yang's amusement grew with Blake's anxious procrastinations.

First, Blake set her books on the bed.

Then she changed from her uniform to her pajamas.

Then she moved the book to her dresser while she straightened her bed.

"It's more comfortable to sit on it this way," she explained.

Yang sat on it and watched her, smile turning to giggles as Blake adjusted the light level.

"It's kind of cold in here," she noted, "so I'll just go change the-"

"Blake." Yang patted the bed beside her.

Blake forced a rectangular smile.

She inched her way to the bed and sat as if guards were forcing her into position.

Yang placed the book in her lap. Blake looked at it, then to Yang. Yang leaned in close, an arm around her shoulder, and a sharp smirk piercing her anxiety.

"You did promise," Yang smiled.

Blake nodded. Her gaze fell to the book. She felt tense and alert, like she was gripping a box full of spiders.

Yang offered, "I used to have stage fright, too. My dad said it helps if you close your eyes and just pretend no one's watching."

"I can't read with my eyes closed."

"Oh. Yeah, good point."

They laughed together. Blake opened the book. And though she had feared it, the moment of her first words came and passed without pain. She spent the day in comfort with her friend.


	5. Malice I

General James Ironwood had an uncomfortable morning bump with Qrow Branwen. They met eyes at the base of Vale's CCT Tower, at the same elevator.

"You're early, Qrow," General Ironwood pointed. He meant, "On time."

Qrow scratched at his unkempt chin and nodded. "Thought we should ride together."

Qrow motioned for Ironwood to enter the elevator first. Ironwood was more comfortable exposing his back. He queued up Ozpin's office, and the doors slid closed. They were riding to the top. In Ironwood's experience, it was a long time to stand in silence.

Qrow hadn't shaved or showered or changed, but he'd clearly been up early for something. He held a red cup from the Vytal festival.

Ironwood nodded to it. "What's your poison?"

Qrow looked down into his cup and scowled. "Vytal Slurpee." He took a sip, and didn't seem to particularly enjoy it. "'Tis the season," he added.

"It doesn't smell alcoholic," Ironwood noted.

"It isn't," Qrow grunted. A look of offense crossed his face.

Ironwood corrected that slight with an offer. "Hold out your cup."

Qrow, curious, did. Ironwood retrieved a flask from his uniform. He poured a generous dose. Their elevator broke through the tower's lower ring, and their exterior position gave them a view of all Vale. Low clouds shrouded Mountain Glenn in the distance, then wisped skyward at the bluffs and became a vaulted ceiling above the metropolis' heat.

Qrow sniffed his drink. "Jimmy," he realized, "This is the reserve Whiskey the Schnees keep to themselves."

Ironwood nodded. "It is. Incidentally, Vytal Berries are a complimentary flavor. Enjoy."

"Thanks." Qrow toasted his cup, then tilted it to his lips. But Ironwood watched his throat. Qrow only pretended to drink. He came down from the faux-chug with a satisfied sigh. Ironwood glared.

Qrow said, "You know what always sets me on edge about you, Jimmy?"

"No. I've been trying to find out," Ironwood admitted.

"You're likable. It's unnerving."

"Not _too_ likable," Ironwood mumbled.

Qrow understood he'd been made, and spit the drink back into his cup.

"Still, it's generous. Usually, the poison's more expensive than the booze." Qrow chuckled. "Seriously, you wouldn't believe the swill people have tried to drug me with."

He patted Ironwood on the back, whose annoyance only grew with the accusation.

The elevator pierced the cloud layer. Sun rays fragmented the cumulonimbus cloud, painting halos on Atlas' visiting air fleet. The Carrier _Eidolon_ hovered above the others.

Ironwood smiled at his marvelous military.

Qrow spotted the silhouettes marching on _Eidolon_ 's deck. He frowned and asked, "What's with the robots, Jimmy?"

"Your clothing has hyper-fine stitching, Qrow. It's too late to reject robotics."

"I meant the tin men."

Ironwood hated Qrow's nicknames. But as an answer, he shrugged his right shoulder and shifted his right leg, drawing Qrow's attention to his cybernetic half.

" _I'm_ a tin man, Qrow."

"Yeah, I don't like you neither," Qrow grunted.

Ironwood frowned. Gunships and strike craft swarmed from _Eidolon._ Null-Eight-Hundred. They were changing the airguard.

"You don't like the Elysium Knights," Ironwood said.

"I don't like _any_ of your automatons," Qrow corrected.

Ironwood wondered how much Qrow knew. He'd overheard an enlisted man joking that Penny Polendina was the worst-kept secret in Atlas. That didn't mean anyone else was in the know. But it was worrisome.

He nodded. "It seems you're worried… That anything not under your control might turn against you."

"Yeah."

"Like fire."

"Precisely," Qrow slurred.

"Like a child."

Qrow didn't compliment that one.

Ironwood drove the point. "The ethics involved in handing a gun to a robot are no different from raising a child and handing him a gun at eighteen."

Qrow scoffed. "Jimmy, if that was true, you wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of _building_ the robots."

Ironwood shook his head. "If anything, we have _more_ control, and _more_ certainty about the robot."

"I'll trust a human, thanks."

"Have you ever had to deliver a death notice?" Ironwood asked.

"Yeah," Qrow snapped, "First when I told Yang that Raven was missing in action. Then when I told Ruby and Yang that Summer was missing in action. And then again, last night, when I showed them a video of her last words."

Ironwood swallowed. "I'm sorry to hear that," he acknowledged.

Qrow nodded and motioned him onward, to present his argument.

Ironwood nodded his thanks. "In Atlas, we believe that warriors who die fighting the Grimm are delivered to Elysium, where they can live their days in peace. The belief is that you have to die in mortal terror, giving your life for humanity, to earn a peaceful life."

Qrow mumbled, "Life sucks and then you die. It can't get worse after that."

Ironwood let the illusion of control slip. He growled, "Paradise after life is not a lie I want to keep telling. But I _believe_ that these knights can guard the Elysium that we build on Remnant."

Qrow didn't contest that. He shook his head. "Well you should have kept them in Atlas. We don't like 'em."

Ironwood backed down. He moved back to Qrow's side and looked out the glass.

"I'm starting to see that," he admitted, "But I hope my intentions are clear."

Qrow mumbled, "Yeah. The robot army has a lot of charm to it."

Ironwood heard, "I've made up my mind."

Qrow added, "Thanks again for the drink." But he didn't drink it.

"Any time," Ironwood sighed.

Ironwood thought Qrow had finished there, that they could ride in silence.

But Qrow licked his lips and exposed a softer side. "How's Amber?"

Ironwood cleared his throat and shifted his feet. He'd been to the vault beneath the school, and visited her stasis pod. He'd spoken to the doctors. "She's… Stable. Whatever that means."

"Is she in pain?"

"No." It was good to be the bearer of good news.

"Does Ozpin still want to kill her?"

It was never good to bear the murkier facts. "No one wants to kill her, Qrow."

"Wouldn't say _that_ ," Branwen quipped.

Ironwood accepted that with a frown. "None of _us_ do."

The elevator stopped and opened. Headmaster Ozpin sat at his desk, head down so her presented a mane of silver hair. He analyzed files as they slid across the screen, his mouth hidden behind a brilliant emerald scarf, eyes occluded by the glare on his glasses. At his side, Glynda Goodwitch leaned against the window, arms folded over a white blouse, legs crossed under a black pencil skirt. She looked out over the Emerald City of Vale as if awaiting a battle.

Ozpin looked up. He was smiling. "Ah. You rode together this time."

Glynda turned away from the windows and saw Ironwood. When their eyes met, he was reminded of better days, long gone. Glynda preempted any polite greetings by leaning over Ozpin's desk and tapping a rune. A hologram sprung to fill the room's center.

Ironwood and Qrow stopped to stare at first frame of a video. Qrow pointed to a time stamp in the bottom corner. "Mountain Glenn?"

Glynda nodded. "Captain Satin Scarlatina's helmet camera."

Ironwood gestured to the image, a Goliath striding through Merlot Plaza. "Goliath Fury?"

"Malice," Glynda corrected. "Goliath Malice was destroyed in Mountain Glenn. Fury replaced it."

She gestured for the video to play.

Screams and roars filled the room.

The Goliath's colossal foot crushed a tower.

Scarlatina screamed, "Rocket pod! Fire! Fire!"

Solid fuel burst nearby, so loud the audio came through as crackles. Flames and debris filled the camera's view, and rockets filled the air.

Soldiers cheered as a rocket struck the creature in its side. The explosions dissipated across an aural shield.

Qrow's jaw fell open. "What?!"

Ironwood pointed in disbelief, stopping the footage with his gesture. But the picture wasn't lying. He rewound the moment.

"We'd heard rumors," Ironwood remembered, "But… We didn't believe them."

Ozpin mumbled, "Now we know."

He had their attention.

"Tell me this isn't a trend," Qrow hissed.

Glynda stepped forward, and with a nod to General Ironwood, she answered, "Doctor Merlot's experimentation on Grimm lead to a new breed. Fortunately, they haven't been observed spawning since the incident."

Qrow interrupted, "That only means they haven't been observed."

Glynda sighed, "Well that's all we have to go on. Unfortunately, Doctor Merlot blew up his laboratory, and himself, before team RWBY could secure any data."

Qrow blinked over the team name. "Before _What_?"

Ironwood asked, "Is something wrong?"

Qrow turned to the Headmaster. "Oz? I keep hearing stories about my nieces brawling with gangsters, trading rounds with terrorists, treasure hunting in Mountain Glenn, and battling new breeds of Grimm."

Ozpin nodded. "Yes. That sounds like them."

Qrow held out his hands. "My nieces are first-years. You think, maybe, I dunno, they should start with some book learning?" Qrow bared his teeth as if smiling. He had all the traits of a wild animal. Protecting his kin was the only virtue Ironwood had observed.

Ozpin unfolded his arms, refolded them, licked his lips, and said. "Qrow…. When team RWBY goes AWOL- that is to say, every week, we offer them the support they need. Your nieces, and their teammates, are very adventurous. I wonder where they got it from."

Glynda interrupted, "Back on point, gentlemen. Qrow, you gave us a description of Amber's attackers. Oobleck has confirmed for us the connection between Doctor Merlot and Mountain Glenn. And if I understand right… James?"

She struggled to look at him. "You have something for us?"

Ironwood nodded. "That's right, Glynda. Atlas Intelligence Bureau may have confirmed Ozpin's suspicions. Mountain Glenn was an intentional attack, orchestrated by a human."

Qrow asked, "Human?"

Ironwood nodded. "Our suspect is human, not faunus. At least seventy years old. If they adopted life-extension medications as soon as possible, they could look forty. The suspect cannot be Doctor Merlot. Most importantly, we believe that the suspect is alive and intends to destroy Vale. Soon. During the Vytal Tournament, in fact. Probably with the same method."

He gestured to the screen.

Glynda confirmed, "By provoking an overwhelming swarm of Grimm."

Qrow turned away from the news and dragged a hand over his mouth, as if wiping away his disbelief. He turned back when he was ready. "It's not the craziest thing I've heard, Jimbo. So, setting aside how this is possible… How do we fight a swarm of Grimm with auras?"

Ironwood tilted his head, and turned to answer. "Ideally, we would prevent this by finding our suspect."

Qrow nodded and interrupted, "Yeah. Yeah, great. Someone between the ages of forty and two-hundred who doesn't have a tail."

Glynda flared her eyes in annoyance. "Qrow, you gave us a description of Amber's attacker. A woman in red assaulted Amber and tried to steal the Fall Maiden's powers. Since a Fall Maiden was present in Mountain Glenn, we can reason that the woman you saw, wearing red, is connected."

Ozpin pointed out the logical leap. "Amber's attacker could be aware of the maidens and uninvolved in Mount-"

"-No, no, no, Oz." Qrow held out a hand. "We're on to something here. Female. Red dress. We're down to only half the world's population."

Glynda rolled her eyes and turned away.

Ironwood stepped in. He knew Qrow's sarcasm binges were unstoppable if they got momentum.

"One of my specialists has made progress on the case."

That got attention from everyone.

Ironwood held up a hand. "She doesn't know what we know. Not yet. I only told her to investigate the attack in Mountain Glenn from Ozpin's angle. And she has results. Some of it, I just told you. But I'd like all of you to hear her insights on the matter. She's arriving with her retinue tomorrow, with the next wave of Paladins. Her name is Winter."

Qrow pursed his lips. He swallowed and suddenly had that distracted wild look, like he wanted to run into the woods and kill something. He braced himself against the window by one arm, glaring out over the city like a bird of prey.

Ironwood asked, "Qrow? Something wrong?"

"Yeah. Still here. Just thinkin'."

Ironwood held out his hands, one flesh, one metal. "Are you thinking about what we're talking about? You look like you've realized something."

"Yeah," Qrow grumbled, distracted. "A woman who can destroy a city and rile up all the forces of evil."

"Do you have someone in mind?"

"My ex."


	6. The Cold War

Winter Schnee saluted at General Ironwood's desk. Students were out in the courtyard, celebrating their graduation with friends. Weiss had just left home for combat school. The fresh memory of Mountain Glenn still tempered everyone's conduct. And throughout the school, the graduation celebration was a muted affair. Instead of partying, everyone kept low conversation about how they would help humanity recover, about what had to change. Winter Schnee and James Ironwood had their quiet conversation in a spartan office atop Atlas Academy.

The solemnity and auspiciousness of Winter's summons made the room foreboding. She had been to the headmaster's office for advice and praise before. This moment did not have that comfort about it. Ironwood's first year as headmaster-general involved many changes. The previous headmaster never would have been saluted.

And previous classes suffered for it. The last eight years had elevated her from princess to warrior. The thrill of discipline kept her core tight and her uniform sharp. Not a thread misplaced. Neatness proves virtue.

The window behind Ironwood's office overlooked the forest in Fall: Red grass, crimson leaves. The wind was stained gold by the nearest Schnee mine. Dust and leaves swirled like coastal tide pools as they danced away from the canopy. Hours from now, the gold and crimson clouds would dazzle millions in the countryside. The sight was enchanting, so Winter looked away, to the General.

Ironwood wasn't looking up. He flipped a manila envelope open on his desk. "Winter Schnee. Valedictorian of your class. Perfect marks in all of your military eligibility exams. Perfect field scores. Two years of seek and destroy, including five solo sorties. You have killed more Goliaths, Monarchs, and Balefires than most people will ever see. Your record is flawless... On paper."

General Ironwood closed the file and pushed it to the desk's side. He folded his hands and looked into Winter's eyes.

"But we both know what isn't written here. You were AWOL from my school for a full week, Winter. And... To _Patch_ of all places, to be with someone you'd met just _once_ at the Vytal Tournament."

"Sir, that allegation was never-"

"-Don't talk. Your career was almost obliterated by that stunt, and it will be if it happens again. I want you to look me in the eyes, Winter."

She did.

He said, "And I want you to tell me that the name Qrow Branwen doesn't mean anything to you."

She knew he was looking for a tell- for anything to change in her.

She said, "Qrow Branwen does not mean anything to me, Sir," like a goddamn statue.

Ironwood seemed satisfied. "Congratulations on graduating, Winter." He nodded to her tassel. "You've earned it."

"Thank you, Sir."

"You can guess why I brought you here."

"You want me to enlist, Sir."

Ironwood nodded and elaborated. "I want you to be a Specialist. And not just any. I'm integrating the Force Specialist Division and the Special Retinue Service. You'll be leading a team from the Special Retinue Service. Everything about your assignment is classified. And if you accept, everything about you and your life will be classified. You'll have to relinquish all of your titles, rescind all claims, withdraw any pending litigations, empty your bank accounts… You become a ghost. Historians won't even know that Weiss had a sister."

Winter raised an eyebrow. "That will be quite the trick, Sir."

He nodded. "It is. I'm giving you a chance to back out, Winter."

No reaction. Winter was re-thinking, though she'd made up her mind long ago. In her silence, the general inserted, "I hope you understand, that's all I can tell you."

She knew enough politics to ask, "Sir, do you think the retinue will take orders from a Huntress? Fresh out of academy?"

He nodded. "They will take orders from you."

She knew she could regret this. This moment was permanent. But it also secured for her a lifestyle that never stopped improving her as a person.

She asked, "Does this mission matter, Sir?"

"More than anything," he nodded.

"I'm in."

"There's no going back from this moment, Winter. For the rest of your life, you will be bound to this decision."

"I understand, Sir."

"Good." Ironwood flipped the manila envelope closed and picked his next words carefully. "Have you ever killed before, Winter?"

She took a moment to register his question, and glanced down to her dossier.

"-A person," he clarified, "Like another Huntsman."


	7. Eudaimonia

High above Vale, where the clouds grazed in a blue sea, a bulk of steel stood guard, sentinel over everything within its horizon. Every citizen, glancing up, was struck by the suns reflection on its name- _Eidolon_ , emblazoned across the hull- and knew that it would prove to be a powerful guardian or an awesome tyrant. They did not know which.

Vale News Network sent a reporter to investigate.

Lisa Lavender stepped onto the bridge of the Atlessian Carrier. General Ironwood was standing level with her, at a railing marking the end of the command deck. Around and below him sat a massive bank of Staff officers and direct controllers to the ships subsystems. Lisa knew nothing about what she was looking at.

General Ironwood extended a hand. His mouth sharpened into a smirk, seeing her reaction. She reciprocated with a shake and a warm smile.

"General. Thank you for having me aboard," she began.

Ironwood nodded, and held up a hand to stop her. "I'm glad to have you, Miss Lavender."

 _Miss_ , Lisa noted, _so he's done his research._

She'd done her own. Glynda Goodwitch had said "I have _nothing_ to say about James Ironwood," in a way that said everything.

General Ironwood continued. "There is something I want to be clear about. I understand as well as any leader that fear is a powerful motivator. But it also attracts Grimm. I don't want to turn the news on tomorrow and see my words twisted to scare people."

Lisa's smile faltered. "Journalism doesn't have an agenda, General."

"But agencies do."

"Which brings us to the present," Lisa countered, "because my agency is wondering what yours is doing here. Why has the Atlessian Military crossed the world to visit us?" Through her smile, her eyes had sharpened to a steely point.

Ironwood nodded his acceptance. "That's a fair question. If my mission here could be summarized in one sentence, it would be, 'to inspire confidence.'"

"And my mission," she smiled, "is to tell a story about our cooperation."

"I'm glad to hear that," Ironwood nodded.

He gestured to a station. "Shall we begin?"

Lisa followed, while Ironwood explained. "This is our tracking station. Lieutenant Katt?"

Katt was a cat Faunus with the wrinkles of a father. He stared intently at a circular screen covered in red dots, muttering to the person at the next station over. At the sound of his name, he turned. "Sir? Ah. The reporter. Lieutenant Ramadi Katt. That's Lieutenant Fola Merlot on Comms. Welcome aboard _Eidolon._ "

Katt extended a hand, which Lisa shook. Merlot did not turn away from her station. She growled into her headset, "It's a simple question, Patch. Are you overrun with Grimm, or not? … Thank you. _Eidolon_ out."

She ended the call and faked a smile to Lisa. "Sorry about that, Miss Lavender. Welcome to _Eidolon_."

"Thank you," Lisa repeated.

Ironwood stepped in. "Right now, Lieutenants Katt and Merlot are tracking the positions of Grimm around the continent and relaying them to allied forces. The carrier _Eidolon_ has a uniquely powerful sensory array that can provide a more accurate picture of enemy forces from here to Vacuo or Mistral."

Lisa wrote the words into her notepad at the speed they were spoken, sparing plenty of attention for the chatter between Katt and Merlot.

Katt murmured, "Patch is clear? Let's call Fort Castle next."

Merlot nodded. Then, into her headset, "Fort Castle, this is Carrier _Eidolon_ , Atlas First Expeditionary."

Lisa saw that Ironwood was watching her pen move. She knew she could multi-task better than most, and distracted him with a question.

"There are a lot of dots on that screen. Are there really that many Grimm?"

"The machine isn't tracking Grimm, Miss," Katt interrupted.

He explained, "The machine tracks a phenomenon called Diaspora. It's a technical term for how a dust vein reacts to the presence of Grimm. The actual energy content of the dust will spread out of the area Grimm are in, and go towards parts of the vein with less Grimm. So we take the known position of dust veins, measure their specific and relative energy at certain points, and then compare them to anomalous weather, RADNAP, and DO-RO. Anywhere that a cross-section of hits occurs, the tracking station displays a red dot. We're using the machine's max sensitivity right now, so Fola and I are calling on allies that can falsify these hits. Sorry, did that make any sense?"

Lisa avoided the word "no," and nodded, "We have a military analyst at the station."

She'd written every word he spoke. She skipped a line and caught the end of Merlot's conversation.

"It's nothing to worry about, Fort Castle. We're at DefCon Two for a drill. Yes. Thank you. _Eidolon_ out."

Merlot nodded to Katt, who removed another red mass from his screen.

"Next we'll do... Odessa," he decided.

Merlot placed her next call. Lisa took a glance at her notes and saw what her mind had missed. She turned to Ironwood.

"Is it unusual to use the maximum sensitivity for the tracking station?"

Katt opened his mouth to answer. General Ironwood was faster. "Just a precaution," he lied.

He was good at hiding his tells. But hiding them revealed enough.

"Nothing I should be worried about?" Lisa poked.

"I would never advise worrying, Miss," Ironwood quipped, "It attracts Grimm."

He pulled his dimples tight against his face the way a territorial animal would. Lisa's smile turned just as forced.

Merlot's voice broke that contact.

"Repeat: Odessa Command, this is _Eidolon_ , First Expeditionary. Are you there?"

There was a long, still silence on the bridge. Everyone was watching Merlot. Then Katt startled in his seat. A receipt printed out one line at a time, loud and jerky. He snatched it and announced, "Return from StratCom!"

He swallowed, and read aloud. "Our hit matches Swarm Fury, but the mass is larger- out of normal variance."

Merlot met his eyes, but did not accept the realization that was creeping upon them. She tapped buttons and turned nobs and spoke again.

"This is the Atlessian military, hailing any and all huntsmen in the Odessa greater area."

Lisa's hand found the end of her notepad, and she flipped the page. She glanced to General Ironwood, and saw that they had been joined by another Officer. She recognized his hat. This was the Fleet Commander. His name tag said "Gray."

He said, "Katt, can you display Contact Null-Null-Three-Two's movement over the last three days?"

Commander Gray did not have the glow of snow, nor the shine of silver that Atlas favored. He, and his voice, had been scraped clean of luster. All that remained was a Commander, and Gray.

Lisa checked her notes. She remembered from her childhood, from combat school, that swarms were named after Goliaths, and Goliaths were rarely named.

She asked, "Fury?"

"Mountain Glenn," everyone answered.

Katt pointed at his screen, at a green trail passing through Odessa. "That intercept is about ten hours ago. Odessa's last check-in was twelve, and they signaled all-clear. That explains their extra mass, but-"

"No distress?" Lisa blurted.

Everyone turned to her. Katt nodded, "Exactly."

"But there are ten-thousand people in Odessa!"

"There were," Merlot mumbled.

Lisa was not familiar with protocol. She was not bound by it, anyway. "Weren't... How... How did you lose track of a group that large? Why didn't we know-"

"-They skipped," Katt shrugged.

"They what?" Lisa looked to Ironwood and Gray for an answer. They were judging her outburst in their glares. She composed herself. Her cheeks flushed, but she swallowed her emotions and found her center. "What is skipping?" she struggled to say politely.

Katt's ears twitched. His hands tried to shape it. His mouth struggled to explain. "When Grimm leave detection, they... Teleport, I guess. No one's clear on the how. They'll just appear suddenly somewhere else. It only happens in large groups. They usually lose a third of their mass in the process. Leviathan's last known was a hundred klicks east of Atlas, three days ago. They stampeded an open-pit mine. We lost them in the dust storm."

"So... Hordes of Grimm can just... Appear from thin air?"

"No. They've never appeared or disappeared where someone can see them."

Katt had a sad, but tempered gaze floating over Lisa. "You can understand why this isn't public knowledge," he sighed.

"Because it might make everyone lose a lot of faith in you," Lisa nodded.

"Because it doesn't help people live their lives," Gray drawled.

"Because fear encourages them," Ironwood reminded her.

Lisa considered that. She did not conclude or commit.

Merlot's head jerked to a light on her screen. She touched it. "Go ahead, Huntress."

The response was curt. Then the light died. Merlot frowned and relayed the news.

"Raven Branwen. Her license is three years out of date, but she claimed to have a visual on three Goliaths. No Balefires. Heading and location matches our hit. She hung up on me."

Katt shook his head. "Huntsmen, am I right?"

"Branwens," Ironwood corrected.

Katt tapped his screen. "They're close, but-"

Lisa asked, "How close?"

"Thirty klicks south-east of us."

"They're in Mountain Glenn again?"

"A little past it. They're close, but they're heading away from us."

Merlot nodded in agreement. She returned to her call with Odessa. "Odessa, our hearts go out to you. Rest in peace. _Eidolon,_ signing off." She reached for a button that would end the call. Her hand stopped. She gripped the ear on her headset. The sound was a distant wailing, like wind, but rising. And she wasn't the only one who heard it. Everyone turned to look down the length of the ship, over the deck.

On the horizon, they could see a rising trail of smoke.

"That's a civilian alarm," Katt breathed. "That's here."

Ironwood and Gray paced to the railing, their eyes fixed on the smoke. Lisa followed the leaders to their sides. Her eyes stayed on the rising, black pillar.

Katt cleared his throat. "It's probably just a fire."

"A fire on the South East wall is a problem," Ironwood noted.

At his side, Fleet commander gray murmured, "I hate being right."

Commander Gray lifted his voice to the ceiling. " _Eidolon._ Raise the DefCon."

Klaxons sounded. The blue-white light on the bridge flicked to a deep red. The ship's computer spoke over the PA, echoing onto the flight deck.

"Attention fleet. The Defense Condition has been raised. We are now at DefCon One. Prepare for imminent contact."

Lisa's heart raced. She couldn't hide her breathing, or the heaving of her chest. She wondered what swift horror had elapsed in Odessa. The fear made her speechless.

Katt had the opposite problem. "Sir, isn't that a bit-"

"Order on the bridge!" Ironwood shouted.

The fear remained. Lisa's scribbling in the notepad drew a quick glance from Merlot. Lisa looked into her hands, and saw she'd written across the lines illegibly. Looking back to Merlot, she saw a red light spring to life on the display. Merlot turned to it, then scrambled to react.

"Go ahead, Vale TacCom." All attention snapped to her. Merlot removed her headset. "Breach! Breach! We have Grimm inside the wall!"

Gray was giving orders before she finished.

"All Hands! Helm, orient One-Two-Null, quarter-thrust. _Eidolon,_ unseal the Mountain Glenn Protocol and signal StratCom: We are activating the _Elysian Knights_. Lisa, if you would be so kind, I need to clear the bridge of non-essential personnel."

A door shut in her face. The moment passed like so many horrors in human history, and the next day, she sat at her desk with pages of notes that she would never, ever share on television. The fire had been caused by an abandoned train from Mountain Glenn slamming itself into Vale's wall. The White Fang was responsible. But she couldn't report that the White Fang was willing and able to do that; the racial tension would tear Vale apart. She couldn't report that swarm Fury had been waiting in position, that Grimm _understood_ when to strike. She couldn't report that four students from Beacon just happened to be in place to save the city. She couldn't say that Atlas' military knew something in advance. She could hardly talk. Because Ironwood was right: Fear draws the Grimm.

Her radio coworker, Cyril Ian, sat across from her. "You look pale," he said through his lunch.

She lowered a page into the shredder.

"I heard you were on _Eidolon_ when the White Fang ran that train through the wall," he added.

She shredded the next page.

"I was on the scene too late to take a picture of the wall. Got an interview with Pyrrha Nikkos. You were talking to General Ironwood, right? I bet it was scary, seeing it from the carrier."

She shredded the next page.

"That bad, huh?"

She didn't answer. She had one usable note from one page, which she copied down onto a sticky. The rest of her story would be conjecture and fabrication, but it would not incite panic, and thus it would not bring Grimm. She handed the note to Cyril, who swallowed his lunch and read in his radio voice.

"Ironwood's mission can be summarized in one sentence: To Inspire confidence."


	8. The Winter Soldiers

Atlas had three problems selling paladins to Vale. The first was an ocean, the second was a continent of wilderness, and the third was Grimm. The military had answers to all of these. So it was that two Atlessian marines found each other's side on a long trip to Vale. Their conversation began on the boat.

"You from Atlas proper?"

"No. I grew up in a Schnee colony."

"A dust mine?"

"Chernobyl."

"Oh. I... hope you didn't lose anyone."

"Well I'm not a Faunus, so..."

"Oh. Right."

They shared a nervous laugh, shook hands, and exchanged names.

"Cobalt."

"Steele."

They'd been raised on the snowy plains of Atlas, honest terrain. The boat docked, and their journey took them through the Forest of Forever Falls, where trees and vines blocked all vision. Overhead was the whir of a gunship. Beside them, the rumble of a tank. And underfoot, the soft tread of crimson leaves.

The marines had been told that they were guarding a routine caravan. A quick glance at their cargo spoiled that lie. No amount of tarp could cover the prototype mech suits. Paladins were the newest weapon in the fight against Grimm. Now mere men could go steel-to-claw with monsters. Or murder faunus by the thousands.

Steele and Cobalt had heard rumors of a Force Specialist traveling with the caravan. Maybe one hundred existed in total. And Atlas had decided that one was needed here. Their worries only increased.

But that was just a rumor. They were discussing it when a soldier in a black uniform dismounted a truck ahead of them. They fell silent. Atlas' marines wore white. The Special Retinue Service wore black. And only the Agents of the Retinue wore greatcoats and visor caps.

The Retinue's presence was always met with silence and fear. The brush around the caravan grew denser, and the canopy thickened, darkening the mood. Steele and Cobalt shared alert glances. They'd have combat badges before they reached Vale.

The Retinue Agent shirked her great coat and tossed it up to a soldier on the truck. The back of her armor vest read "HIKARI." Her armband depicted a snowflake.

Cobalt nudged Steele and whispered, "Winter's Soldiers."

Steele nodded. "So there really is a Specialist here. That's the experimental unit, right? They're merging the Retinue into the military?

Cobalt's head was elsewhere. "Steele, we've got a Specialist, The Retinue, at least three gunships, like five tanks, and two-hundred marines here. What are we expecting to happen?"

"I dunno. I saw SDC logos on the Paladins. Maybe our corporate overlords just want to be certain about this shipment. Dude, look at that spec ops shit. Is that an aura scope?"

They watched the Retinue agent, taking stock of her armor plates and thigh hoppers, gathering brand names and exchanging knowledge on equipment.

An hour later, Steele's curiosity beat his fear. He said, "Alright it was nice knowing you, Cobalt. I just gotta ask about that armor mod."

He jogged forward, and Cobalt hissed, "Wait! Steele! Fuck!"

Steele tapped the Agent's shoulder and asked, "Hey. Uh. Don't you guys have an XO who gets on you about that stuff?"

He gestured to the Agent's side, where she had forcibly removed a ceramic plate and welded an ammo feeder.

He couldn't read her expression through her combat helmet. She chuckled.

"You see that huntress?"

She pointed ahead of them. Force Specialist Winter Schnee was beside the column, side-saddle atop a spectral horse. She wore a white uniform with silver accents that matched her hair. As her head turned, surveying the forest, Steele caught her adamantine gaze. He could feel the presence of her aura, scanning. Leaves and branches gently wafted under the force. She found nothing of interest, and looked ahead.

Steele looked down at his uniform: He was a mess from marching. He looked at Winter: She was immaculate. He looked at The Retinue Agent. His reflection on her faceplate was a scared kid. Steele steeled his face and consciously dropped his voice and octave.

"So… That's your XO?"

Hikari nodded, smirking. "That's my XO."

"And she's cool with you modding your armor?"

Hikari nodded sideways, not finding a short answer.

"Winter told us a story about the Great War. A ship, _SDC_ _Hindenburg_ , went down with its magazines still full. She didn't like that. She told us that we're not allowed to die until we've spent every last cartridge. Told us she didn't care how we made it happen."

"Whoa," Steele acknowledged.

Cobalt hustled forward to join them, pointing at the ammo hopper on Hikari's side.

"Your cartridges are cut at thirty degrees. Standard burn carts are twenty-five. That's not standard."

He turned his point and frown into an open hand and a question.

Hikari shrugged. "Sure, it's standard. Merlot standard."

She held out her rifle, trigger finger pointing to the maker's mark along the receiver. Cobalt gawked.

"Those haven't been in production for, like...?"

He gestured to Steele, who finished, "Merlot Industries died at Mountain Glenn."

"Their patents didn't," Hikari shrugged.

Steele and Cobalt traded glances that said, "Does she mean...?"

Cobalt stuttered, "D-d- hang on. Do you mean... You've got the hookup? Like, that's not an antique?"

Hikari sighed and reversed her rifle's sling. On the flip side of the receiver was a manufacture date that made Cobalt and Steele giggle like schoolgirls.

"Alright, alright, we gotta calm down, Cobalt."

Steele lead a breathing exercise, then turned back to Hikari.

"Okay. How do _we_ become _you_?"

"Ask Winter," Hikari pointed.

Merely looking her way gave them a fear they could not surmount.

Steele mumbled, "Right now?"

Hikari shrugged.

Cobalt gulped, but didn't say anything. Steele asked, "Okay, how did _you_ become you?"

That got a smile from Hikari.

She said, "So there was this fortune teller. A lion faunus. She told me I was an old soul. My natural enemies are islands to my south, and my natural ally is Winter. She said my old soul was a subject of the Snow Queen, and that I had an errand to complete for her. So I had to seek her on the North Mountain."

Cobalt was wise enough to interrupt and say, "This is bullshit, right?"

"Well, no. If you want to join the retinue, you're going to climb Old Blue Balls. So I get to the top of this mountain out on the ice caps, and there's this field of sticks with strips of cloth on them. On the way down, I bump into an SRS outpost. Recruiter was there. Pure coincidence. They took me in, and about twenty years later I see there's a new specialist named Winter, and she needs a retinue. Gypsy did me right the first time. I figured, 'why not?'"

Hikari gestured forward, to Winter and her transparent horse.

Steele asked, "Was that horse on the boat?"

"Nope," Hikari grunted.

Cobalt asked, "Does Vale have wild… Transparent… Horses?"

"It's her semblance," Hikari explained.

"Uh…" Cobalt objected.

Steele shook his head. "Hold on. I thought semblances were, like, running super fast, or turning invisible."

Hikari hummed, "Well, Winter summons the souls of the dead."

Cobalt narrowed his eyes.

Steele was wise enough to say, " _That's_ bullshit, right?"

Hikari looked at him. With her eyes covered and her mouth a flat line, he didn't know what she meant. Eventually, she said, "It's a transparent horse. Bullshit is what's for dinner, kid."

"Spooky bullshit," Cobalt agreed.

They walked for another hour in silence. Winter's posture never relaxed. Occasionally, her head would turn out to the forest. Her sharp cheeks and steely eyes belonged on a tank. She looked too perfect to be human. She lived up to the myths they'd heard about Huntresses, about Specialists.

After that hour of watching, they grew more bored than afraid.

Steele asked, "What do you think she's thinking about?"

"She's daydreaming for sure," Cobalt nodded.

"Don't say that to her face," Hikari chuckled.

Cobalt nudged Steele, who asked for him, "But she is daydreaming. About a guy? Is he cute?"

Hikari laughed.

Cobalt kept guessing. "A huntsman? Rugged?"

Steele, in a romancer's voice, whispered, "He's a lover, not a fighter."

"But he's also a fighter," Cobalt added.

Hikari kept laughing.

"No, but seriously." Steele brought the conversation back to reality. He nodded upwards to the Specialist.

Hikari shrugged, "You actually got it. There's a guy. A rugged Huntsman. But this job... Tell you what. You wanna be me?"

Steele and Cobalt followed her tone, the nostalgic pain that Hikari shared with her commander. They saw, through the utter discipline in Winter's posture, how only her daydreaming offered the luxury of a well-rounded life. They still felt envy for the fruits of the tree of labor. But they weren't ready to feel the labor.

"Maybe?" Steele squinted.

Cobalt asked, "After you climb the mountain, what do you have to do?"

Hikari sighed, "Classified. But I'll tell you this. When you're working with Winter, you've gotta-"

Hikari stopped. A cargo truck passed her, the newest of Atlas' Paladins sitting inert on its bed. She was staring at Steele, her mouth an angry line. He checked himself and thought through the last few seconds. Had he pissed her off? Then he realized, she was looking past him, just over his shoulder.

She finished, "Find cover."


	9. Winter in Mountain Glenn

Professor Bartholomew Oobleck firmly believed that a life of travel was the surest cure to xenophobia- for the traveling _scholar_. Despite being guests in his city, Winter and her Soldiers seemed to distrust the natives, including him. So he walked ahead through the city streets, his shoulder blades itching as they followed.

At the police line, he waved his credentials and passed without breaking stride. This quarter of the city had truly suffered. Grimm had returned it to nature, tearing up brick and tearing down structures. The HazMat teams had already been through, and most of the breach was now sealed, but the municipality had closed the street until structures could be examined.

The breach, a block-long crater, yawned over abandoned subway tracks. At the edge, Oobleck spotted one of his students, a third year, Coco Adel.

He stopped at her side and read her expression aloud. "They're monsters."

She nodded. Her gaze stayed down the hole, waiting for motion. The battle had ended a week ago. But for some people, the battle never really ended.

Oobleck placed a firm hand on her shoulder. Coco's head snapped his way. She relaxed and took a step back, then gestured down the hole and reported.

"The train hit first. There was an explosion. We thought it was a White Fang attack. They had uniforms."

She pointed to a chalk outline in the doorway of a ruined shop.

Coco continued, "We were still airborne. On our way to a Search and Destroy. So I had our pilot divert and circle overhead."

Oobleck smiled. He remembered when Coco and her team were four feet tall and scared of the woods. Now they were sortieing without oversight.

Coco hesitated in her story. Eventually, she nodded to an impact crater. "We saw Grimm. So we dropped."

Bullet casings pooled in the crater. Coco's minigun had seen action. She gestured to another crater.

"Professor Port was taking team JNPR on their first mission. They stopped in, too."

Oobleck knew Coco. He understood, suddenly, that she'd returned to address her fear. He could read the stress building in her façade.

So he nodded and finished the story for her. "I've been told that you mobilized your team and several others, heading off what could have been a major breach of a metropolitan area. Not a single person died. You were the right person in the right place, Coco."

She relaxed, and he knew he'd given her catharsis.

She whispered, "They have no idea what it's like, outside the walls."

Oobleck patted her shoulder. "With huntsmen like you, they never will."

Specialist Winter stepped into the conversation. She'd drawn her saber.

"Doctor. If you don't mind."

Oobleck nodded and said his partings to Coco.

The Winter Soldiers unslung their rifles and activated their digital camouflage. The pattern broke only across their backs, where names were spelled out in solid colors. The uniforms inherited the hues of their surroundings, and the soldiers passed into the darkness of Mountain Glenn's tunnels as midnight blue silhouettes.

Winter Schnee and Bartholomew Oobleck followed close behind, down into the hole, onto the train tracks. The soldiers switched shoulder torches on, and the party began a long walk into the Great Mistake.

Oobleck knew they were close when the point man halted. The temperature change caught many off-guard. Twenty degrees across two feet. And huntsmen noted the other effect. Specialist Winter broke stride as she crossed.

Oobleck explained, "It's subtle… But over the next forty hours, our auras will drain away. Another twenty, and fatigue sets in. Another twenty, and death. We take our fourth years here, to instill in them a sense of mortality."

Winter resumed her pace, unfazed, but asked Professor Oobleck, "Then why do you take first years down here?"

"An exception was made for team RWBY."

Winter smiled, "I know she's a pushy girl, Doctor, but you risked my sister's life."

Oobleck thought to himself that Winter's face belonged on a skin cream billboard- something with a waterfall and a tranquil pond and a haiku. Despite that, he could sense the tension holding her together. It was in her sudden footsteps, in the grip of her hands behind her waist. He felt the intense anger in her aura. Oobleck blinked through that fury and answered, "Who? Ah, yes, Weiss, pushy. Haha. What an understatement. She has no lack of self-esteem. But no, that was not the reason. The exception was made for her teammates. Their extensive field experience, and Ruby's…"

He remembered suddenly that there were things he couldn't say.

"… Miss Rose's leadership abilities were deemed fit for the challenge."

He checked her expression. Nothing had changed.

She conceded, "I'm glad she's had an adventure. Just one."

Oh.

So no one had told her about Team RWBY's second visit to Mountain Glenn, nor their near death experience on Merlot Island.

Winter was getting her intel from Weiss. Oobleck decided to trust her discretion.

Winter continued. "I'm interested in Weiss' faunus teammate."

Blake Belladonna. Oobleck knew to keep quiet.

The Specialist picked her words slowly. "I assumed this was one of Ozpin's infamous social experiments- that he'd put a faunus with a Schnee just to be unorthodox."

"Teams were paired randomly this year," Oobleck corrected.

Winter stopped. Her calm broke. It seemed her whole mind had broken. She turned an incredulous glare to him. She blinked at Oobleck, trying to understand, then to comprehend, then to accept. Her lips poised for a question, then changed to another.

Winter finally said, "It seems to me that the whole of Vale is an experiment in Chaos."

Oobleck shrugged, smiled, and tipped his safari helm. "Welcome to the Emerald City."

Winter shook her head free of the madness, and the party's walk continued.

"We'll set that aside," she decided, "Because I'm curious about the faunus. Weiss told me that she was a run-of-the-mill, hard-headed, uneducated young girl, and that Weiss had taken her under her wing. But you believe that she has _exceptional_ combat ability?"

Oobleck wore the most innocent ignorance he could, and asked, "Blake?"

Winter nodded. "Yes. Blake. Blake Whisker."

Oobleck imagined the conversation: Weiss playing with her hair and stacking lies like cards. The truth would turn Winter into a blizzard. Oobleck decided not to disturb that storm.

"Well... Yes," he said.

"Yes, she's exceptional?"

Oobleck steeled himself, but had no answer. He didn't need one. The soldier on point, Hikari, raised her fist, then horns. White Fang. The soldiers cut their shoulder torches and sprinted to the tunnel's sides.

Ahead of them flickered a light, illuminating the first station in Mountain Glenn proper. Hikari had spotted a White Fang uniform standing against a building. They edged closer to see that the faunus radical was now just a corpse. But it was fresh. This one had died in the skirmish with Oobleck and team RWBY, defending the explosive train. Oobleck closed the faunus' eyes. Beside him, Winter whispered, "As I heard it, you had quite the battle on this train. There's only one body?"

"Team RWBY made a point of avoiding casualties. We're Huntsmen, not soldiers."

He rejoined the Winter Soldiers as they advanced cover-to-cover.

Oobleck's inspection hadn't been so thorough on his last visit to the station. Now he saw the ancient luggage piled against the walls. He was interested in the sociological implications. Every packed bag was a snapshot of a life ending. The Winter Soldiers had their own inspection running. One soldier, "WHITE" written across his back, waved a wand over the luggage. He checked the wand's readout, then shook his head. They moved on.

Their march was long, made longer as they avoided Grimm. Eight hours later, all panting, they sealed the doors of the CCT behind them.

Inside, the building's ambient light kept enough shadows at bay for everyone to relax. Through the shroud of darkness, they could see what remained of the CCT's foyer. Tables and chairs had been upended. High-impact rounds scored the walls. A glass arrow, embedded in the floor, prismed their flashlight beams. Agent Hikari had point. She looked down, at a muddy footprint ahead of her. Then, realizing, she lifted her own boot, and matched the mark to its maker. She turned to Winter and whispered, "Specialist?"

Winter stepped forward. She tensed, and Oobleck felt her aura surge out to ping the room. She nodded, and said louder, "No Grimm."

Oobleck pinged his out to double check. Winter shot him a look of annoyance.

Hikari turned to the rest of the Retinue. "If the engineers followed the book, the reactor was shrouded before they left. We have no power until the shroud is removed. White, help me pry open the elevator. Cherry and Orchid are going down. Specialist, security please. White?"

White had paced ahead, following his wand's beeping. "I got something," he announced.

And he lifted it from the floor: A white cape, the inside bearing the crest of a rose, the bottom weighted by iron crosses. White flipped up a tag inside the collar and read aloud, "If lost, return to Summer Rose."

Oobleck considered objecting. By all rights, the cape now belonged to Ruby Rose. And Ruby would want it. But he had guessed what the retinue was detecting. He knew they would need it. White bagged the cape and joined Hikari at the elevator. She replaced her helmet, and the soldiers scrambled to work. Winter crept to the doctor's side.

She asked, "Oobleck? You still haven't answered my question."

"Your what?"

"Weiss' team mate. The Faunus. You sent them into danger. More than I know Weiss was ready for. So what is so special about Blake Whisker?"

Bartholomew Oobleck ran a hand under his safari helm. "To be honest, Miss Schnee, most of our students are spoiled children who have never left the walls. Their combat school certification only means that they are responsible with their weapons and can follow instructions. Nothing more. It is at Beacon that we select the warriors, then train them, then test them. Weiss is no exception. No. Yes. I have _exceptionally_ low hopes for her in solo combat. Meanwhile, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long both grew up in Patch."

"I've never heard of Patch."

"Precisely. It is an island hundreds of miles from civilization. So survivalism is second-nature to them. Professor Ozpin found Ruby because she was holding her ground against two rogue huntsmen in actual combat. She forced them to retreat, wielding a sniper-scythe, mind you."

Winter nodded. "That's very impressive," she admitted.

"Yes. I'm glad you understand."

Her voice dropped an octave. "But I didn't ask about Ruby Rose."

Oobleck feigned innocence. "Honestly, I've _forgotten_ your question."

Winter hissed, "Blake. The Faunus. Is she incompetent, or not?"

Bartholomew huffed, frustrated. "Specialist, if you'll take my word for it, just know that Miss Belladonna is on par with Ruby Rose."

For a second time, he'd cracked her facade. Her irises contracted in realization, and a single eyebrow lifted.

She swallowed. "Belladonna," she said.

 _Oops_ , Oobleck thought.

Winter squared her shoulders at him and advanced until he was breathing her air. He was reminded of the burning sensation intense cold inflicts.

" _Belladonna?_ As in Blake Belladonna, Queen of the Hunt? Princess of the White Fang?"

Bartholomew steeled his gaze, but didn't answer.

The soldiers had picked up on Winter's cold front, and consolidated their attention.

"No," Oobleck finally said. "I mean Blake Belladonna, the sixteen year old girl who has diplomatic immunity so long as she's a student at Beacon."

Winter had pursed her lips into a singularity. Her nose flinched. With the utmost containment, she threatened, "I will be speaking to Ozpin about this."

"Wait," Hikari realized aloud.

White added, "Holy shit, do you mean-"

"Shadowcat?" the soldiers said in unison.

"White, didn't she shoot you?" Hikari noted.

"Yeah. And isn't she on the kill list?"

"Number three," Winter hissed.

"Formerly, you mean," Oobleck corrected.

The lights flicked on and the building whirred to life. A holographic assistant appeared where her desk had been, then stood awkwardly from a non-existent chair. The image turned to address Oobleck. "Hello, and welcome to the Mountain Glenn CCT Tower. We are having connectivity issues at the moment. How can I direct you?"

He presented Winter with his shoulder, and walked out on her conversation, to address the hologram. "I take it your systems are mostly intact. Can you perform a diagnostic on the local network?"

"Credentials, please," the hologram smiled.

He rushed, "DoctorBartholomewOobleckBeaconAcademy."

The hologram froze to think. "I'm sorry, Sir. Could you please repeat that slower?"

Oobleck sighed and flicked his arms out, dispelling adrenaline. "Doc-tor, Bar-tho-lo-mew, Oo-bleck, from Bea-con."

"Welcome."

"Thank you. Now could you please give an inventory of the primary dust vein and a diagnostic of the mining network?"

"I'm sorry, but all data is historical. My network extends no farther than shrouded equipment. This is possibly due to a catastrophic diaspora effect."

"Historical data?" Winter asked, impatient.

Oobleck repeated the request.

"At last estimate, twelve years ago, over two-hundred megatons of dust-laden rock was within range. All of that Dust was depleted by a catastrophic diaspora event. No viable Dust remains."

A soldier noted, "Just like Chernobyl."

Winter's eyelids flared in frustration. "Well, then. Thank you for coming along, Doctor Oobleck. I hope the trip wasn't a complete waste of your time. I've certainly wasted mine."

She turned away from him, to leave.

"You're closer than you know," Oobleck assured her.

She turned back to Oobleck. "The Dust is gone, Doctor. I came here to find Dust. And I didn't."

She searched his eyes. She found resolve. And Oobleck spoke now in an intentional and calculated tone. "The Survey contract was placed on hold until Atlas could send a Force Specialist from across the world. You're here to do a geologist's job? I doubt that."

"And what _do_ you think we're doing, Doctor?"

Oobleck smiled. "Tell me, Winter, what does that machine detect?"

He pointed to White, to the soldier's wand. After a long pause, Winter admitted, "Anomalous Dustronics and electromagnetism."

"Anomalous implies unpredictable. But you brought it here, and your predictions were met with success, weren't they?"

"Do you know something that I don't, Doctor?"

"I know a great many things that you do not, Specialist."

Winter closed her eyes and licked her lips, trying to be patient. She swallowed, then asked, "Would you be willing to share?"

Oobleck laughed, nervously. He relaxed against a table and folded his arms. "Specialist, if you can't follow the trail, don't."

"You've already implied that you know my mission, Doctor. You know what happens if I give up."

"Yes. This, again." He nodded at the carnage around them.

"Probably in Vale," Winter noted.

"I do very dearly hope you will succeed," Oobleck smiled.

Winter's fury peaked. Her fists gripped tight. She hissed, "I have the impression that everyone but my team knows what's going on. If you want us to complete this mission, you have to tell me what you know, Doctor."  
Oobleck frowned, like a historian at humanity's mistakes. He said, "That's what we did to the last Specialist."

Winter's fury abated. She looked like the sun had risen off schedule, or the stars had forgotten to shine. So Weiss wasn't the only one lying to her. General Ironwood had omitted that she was walking a path marked by graves.

"I can give you a hint," Oobleck decided.

And he very pointedly asked, "Do you know the story of the Four Maidens?"

Winter snapped, "It's a children's story."

Agent Hikari stepped forward. "Four girls helped an old man. He rewarded their virtue with power. They created the seasons. The Winter Maiden founded the city of Mantle."

Specialist Winter turned a raised eyebrow to the Agent. "You believe that?"

Hikari opened her mouth. She hesitated. "The Retinue was formed to protect the Winter Maiden. The authority of the Crown of Mantle is derived from her power."

Oobleck cleared his throat. "Let's focus on the Fall Maiden."


	10. Raven

Qrow Branwen had little down time in his line of work, and most of it was in the field. For now, he had a free day in Vale with Ruby and Yang. Ozpin had just put him on the backburner, since Ironwood assured everyone that he was on top of the whole end-of-the-world thing. Winter was on top of it.

Ozpin had told him to back off and let her handle it. Ozpin had told him exactly that, face-to-face, like he was waiting for a reaction. Like Qrow couldn't be trusted to work with her, or around her, or in spite of her. And Qrow had shrugged it off, because an adult should be able to take this in stride. The best he could do was stay sober and put it out of his mind. So he knocked on team RWBY's door and hoped Weiss wouldn't answer and the girls wouldn't have homework and something would just go his goddamn way for once.

Ruby opened the door. Oh god, did she look like Summer. And then Yang, hunched over a controller at the room's center, furiously mashing buttons and glaring at the screen like the first day he'd met Tai.

"Hey," he said then and now.

Yang lit up and chimed in time with Ruby, "Uncle QroOOOOOOOOOOW!"

Most men would never be as thankful for life as Qrow was in these moments. They sat and talked, learned to play Bloody Ninja Murder from the grandmaster himself, and all enjoyed being children. This was only dampened when Yang called Qrow old, and when they asked about Raven.

For an absent mother, Raven Branwen had incredible presence. Ruby had just seen Summer in recording. It was natural they'd ask about Yang's biological mother.

"What was she like? Was she always... You know?" Yang asked.

Qrow set down the controller. He tried to remember her in a better light, for their sake.

"Your mother," he said to Yang, "was fearless. And I mean that literally. She told me once... Lemme back up. So we were in Atlas. This was after we graduated. Team STRQ was pretty famous back in its day. Everybody knew who we were. Contracts were lining up. There were biddings just to get our attention. We had," he laughed at this, "we had a reporter embedded with us on one of our missions, just to write a story."

"You were cool?" Ruby asked.

"I still am!" he pointed.

"We know you're cool, Uncle Qrow," Yang smiled.

"And don't forget it. Well your mother was the coolest of the cool. Everybody wanted to know who she was dating, who she was thinking about. She was like… Who's in your generation?"

"Pyrrha Nikkos?" Yang offered.

Qrow pointed at her.

"Pyrrha. She was like Pyrrha. Now Raven wasn't on any cereal boxes, but Ebon Merlot proposed to her."

Ruby asked, "Who?"

"The Merlots," Yang said in a solemn tone.

"Oh," Ruby remembered.

"Yeah, they're mostly dead now," Qrow sighed, "But they were a big deal in life. And you should have seen Raven thinking about it. My sister..." he struggled through the discomfort of admitting, "was very attractive in her youth. Her eyes weren't red, by the way. They were _purple_. And she knew how to look dangerous in a dress. Just imagine Mr. Merlot, basically a Schnee, kneeling in front of her, while she looks like the Empress of Remnant. Anyway, she turned him down. Gave a flowery speech, too. Did I mention she's a poet? Was. She said she wanted to marry an adventurer and live her life out in the wild. Industry wasn't her thing. She'd take a range over a castle any day."

Yang was stuck on, "Her eyes weren't red? When did that change?"

"Well, whenever she was in a fight. No. Not always. Whenever she got hit. Whenever she got hurt, or mad, or once when we watched a sad movie. Actually, I don't think she ever cried in her life. She'd get really serious and focused more. Your mom was always a professional. She'd wait till she had a spare moment, tell us she needed some alone time, and go meditate. Then she'd come back all smiles, and she was her normal self again. Your mother didn't like to dump her problems on other people."

He was lost in the past, and had forgotten to keep sharing it. Ruby poked him.

"Uncle Qrow!"

"Huh? Right. Well, fear is a good thing. Fear keeps you safe. You know when you're about to make a decision, like a really big decision, and you aren't sure it's going to work? There's that impulse to turn around and run away."

"Like when I'm flirting with the guys," Yang said.

Qrow paused, and realized that Yang was about that age.

"Eww," Ruby said.

"Grow up, Ruby," Yang hissed.

"No. Don't," Qrow corrected, "But yeah. Like when you're flirting with danger. And suddenly there's that primal instinct to play it safe. Well Raven never had that. And that explains a lot of why she was successful. There was nothing weighing her down. She could look someone in the eye and they'd know that she was about to give it her all. Well, and she was a great fighter."

Ruby inserted, "Like Pyrrha!"

"Yeah. So then we went to Chernobyl. You kids remember Chernobyl? Too young. Whose your faunus teammate?"

"Blake?"

"Yeah. Ask her about it."

"Was she there?"

Qrow tongued his teeth, picking something out of a crevice and dodging the question. He continued, "Chernobyl was a little before Mountain Glenn. The Schnees had a refinery underground. The weather there is deadly. So the dust would get refined inside the mine. And by the time it got topside, it was usable. And this place was BIG. Well, back then- this was just the way things were- all the miners were faunus. And all the executives, and technicians, and guards, and soldiers- everybody else was human. So when the mine started blowing up, the humans just left the faunus down there and ran away."

"How many people..." Yang wondered.

"Thousands. Maybe ten. Place is huge. Used to be the bulk of Atlas' strategic reserve. So they wanted someone to go clear the site of Grimm and see what could be salvaged. And they hired team STRQ."

He trailed off again. Ruby was invested in the story. She poked him.

"So we cleared all the Grimm. And we turned on the control room. Only... Nothing was working. The mine had these big blast doors, from the Great War, back when there were bombing runs. And everything under the blast doors wasn't working. Only the stuff topside. So someone had to go down there and test the dust vein."

"You sent Raven?" Ruby guessed.

"Sent? No. She just went."

He sat quietly for a long time, and didn't answer when Ruby poked him again.

He was standing beside the doors. The elevator was jammed, about five meters below its platform. Raven stood at his side. Summer and Tai were on the radio, back in the control room. Raven had helped him carry a cable from there. They dropped it at the blast doors and set to work connecting it to the emergency systems.

"You know..." Raven said, "You don't have to do this, Qrow."

"Do what?"

"You like Summer. Everybody knows it."

"Nah. Tai likes Summer."

"But so do you. You don't have to back down on this."

"Tai's been a little down lately," Qrow mumbled.

"So you're going to let him use her like a crutch?"

"He _likes_ her," Qrow asserted.

"She likes _you_ ," Raven said.

"It's a crush," Qrow sighed.

He turned back to the control room and pushed the bead in his ear.

"We're all hooked up down here, Tai."

"Yeah, I see that. We have a connection now, but... Bad responses from all machines. Error, error... Oh boy. The whole log just flooded with errors. Yeah, everything's broken."

Qrow sighed and released his earpiece.

Raven had a scheming smile. "Suppose Tai wasn't after Summer."

"What?"

"If Tai doesn't want Summer, will you go for her?"

"I don't wanna make things weird."

"Will you?"

"It doesn't matter, because he _is_ interested in Summer."

Raven laughed. Her head shook. She wore dark glasses back then, to hide the light that always gleamed from her eyes. But Qrow remembered her without them, and saw the way they sparkled, like amethysts dancing on an ocean.

"Oh, Qrow. Men are hopeless."

"Huh?"

"Tai and I are a couple."

"What?"

"Summer doesn't know, and I don't want to break her little heart. So do me a favor and distract her, okay?"

"Why... If you knew she liked him-"

"I _didn't_! And anyway, someone's gotta go down here."

"Sooner the better," Qrow agreed.

He looked out over the camp. Something about the layout had been bothering him. Now, from the innermost layer of fences, he realized it.

"Raven," he breathed.

She looked around, at the fences, the barricades, the checkpoints, and the walls.

Her coy smile was gone. She said, "You too, huh?"

"This place is a cage. I don't think these miners…"

It wasn't his job. He shook his head. "Let's get this done."

They looked down the mine shaft. The wind in Chernobyl was stale and cold, the kind that rattled bones and stripped leaves from trees. Passing through the blast doors and winding down, it made a faint wailing sound, as if the dead were calling up to them. Qrow didn't _feel_ fear. He sensed it in there, waiting for him like a trap. He wondered how Raven could be blind to it. She hopped down onto the elevator.

"Uncle QROOOOOOOOOOOOOW!"

Ruby was waving a hand in front of him.

"You gotta tell us what happened!"

"Ruby," Yang cautioned.

Qrow spared them the details.

"So someone had to go down. Well, your mother hopped onto the elevator... And it gave out under her weight. Fell five-hundred meters straight down, walls on all sides."

Yang and Ruby gasped. They had studied and practiced aural landing strategies. They knew how impossible it was to survive without room to maneuver.

"Well, she survived the fall."

"Was she hurt?"

"No. She was a pro. And she lit one of her chem lights down there. But her radio wasn't working. There was a lot of interference."

He was there again. Shouting at the bead in his ear. And all he got back was a whisper, some ethereal voice, quiet and monotone, but clear.

"-there will be no rest there will be no love there will be no hero in the end who will rise above and when it ends the good will fall-"

The words tumbled out of that darkness, broken only by bursts of Static, and Raven's voice struggling to message him.

"I'm okay! _Bzzt_. _Crackle_. Whispering? Qrow? _bzzt._ Say again!"

"Raven. Raven, what?"

The static abated.

"Qrow? There's something down here. There's... Qrow?"

"Raven? What's down there?"

He could see her silhouette, the green glow of her chem light illuminating only her. She was rigid, the light held overhead, her blade shaking in her fist.

"Qrow," she whispered.

"Qrow, I'm scared."

She left her mic open, but the static came like a wave and overpowered everything. The wind accelerated, and the damned howling swirled up from the cave. Darkness crept up her silhouette, consuming her, until the chem light flickered out in her hand.

To Ruby and Yang he said, "We threw some lights in after her, but we couldn't see anything. And we couldn't go down without rappelling. We'd brought gear for that, but it takes a while to set up. By the time we had... Well the elevator jerked to life, and Raven came up to meet us."

She had curled into a ball, her eyes dark and crimson. Where her face had been plump and her complexion flushed, she was now and forever harrowed and pale white. She wouldn't answer when Qrow talked to her. She retracted from Summer's touch. But she wrapped her arms around Tai and only managed to whisper, "I want to go home."

"We had some explosive satchels," Qrow said, "So we sent those down the elevator and got the hell out of there. About nine months after that, you were born," he nodded to Yang, "and then she disappeared."

He reached for his flask, but remembered with some shame to not do that in front of them.

"And that was the end of team STRQ," he finished.

Ruby was quiet.

But Yang had one of those questions no one was ready or qualified to answer.

"Do you think… She regrets having me?"

Qrow pulled his flask and drank. He thought. He wished a better man could take his place in this moment.

"I went looking for your mom. So did Tai. So did Summer. We found her trail sometimes. She kept up with her work, and there were money transfers and bank accounts. She didn't want anything to do with us. She didn't want anything to do with anybody. Never went to the same places twice. But... Well, I called in a favor from someone I know in Atlas. At the end of last semester, a Specialist spotted her-"

"You know a Specialist?" Ruby gasped.

Yang leaned in, her eyes wide and intense. "Is it true they can teleport at will and have infinite auras?"

Qrow cocked his head. He'd never herd that one before. He smiled.

"Girls, Atlas' Force Specialists are Huntsmen- just like you and me. They're not any more or less spooky. But yeah, I know one." Qrow grumbled, "And she found Raven in Atlas. And she... Uh... Well..."

 _She was dressing up with Grimm bones and drinking human blood_ , he didn't say.

"Well, it was right when you got on that train in Mountain Glenn, Yang. You said Raven appeared and saved you? Well twenty minutes before that, she was on a hunt in Vacuo. She crossed the whole world, went into Mountain Glenn alone, and rescued you on that train. Then she tracked me down in Mistral, same night. Woke me up, and told me to keep a closer eye on you."

Yang didn't look any happier. She didn't know what to make of that.

Qrow sighed. "Look, she isn't a good mother. But... If Raven didn't want you, you'd be dead."


	11. Monochrome Dreams

Weiss Schnee had a problem. Not only was she not Team Leader, she was not "leader material." She'd confided her dreams in every instructor, and every single one had laughed at her. The day had started horribly for her ego. She was retreating to her room, to her friends. She checked the time. They were all in classes for the next three hours. She could at least play with Ruby's stupid dog and cry alone.

She was crossing the courtyard when she passed behind team CFVY. They were third years, returning from live-fire drills and talking energetically. As she passed Velvet Scarlatina, the bunny girl said, "It's like Weiss is oblivious. A Schnee can't just tell Blake to forget and forgive. That's not fair!"

Weiss stopped and snapped back, "Why not?"

The whole team stopped. Velvet tensed, then slowly turned to see. But she ignored Weiss, and scrunched her nose at her teammate, Fox, instead. "Thanks for the warning."

Fox's blind eyes were looking dead ahead. But he smiled and shrugged, "I warned you that you were talking big again. Thought that was enough."

She looked to her side and up, up, up, where Yatsuhashi nodded in agreement.

From six and a half feet up he grumbled, "Velvet, if your words are as important as you thought them to be, now is the time to share them."

He gestured from Velvet to Weiss. But Velvet turned to Coco for help.

The team leader scowled. "Don't look at me. You started this."

Weiss placed her hands on her hips and shouted, "I asked you a question, Velvet!"

Velvet had no one to hide behind. She sighed. "Look, Weiss, I don't know how Ruby is as a team leader, but she can't be worse than you."

"Why not? I'm a good fighter, a better tactician, and a lot smarter than almost everyone here!"

Velvet cringed. "Not really."

Fox and Yatsuhashi knew to take a few steps away from the coming girl fight.

Weiss let her mouth hang open. She was too shocked to answer.

Velvet pressed, "But I was thinking more about Chernobyl. You know, that little genocide issue your family perpetrated against faunus kind?"

Fox pursed his lips. Coco and Yatsuhashi didn't recognize the name.

Weiss did. She scoffed. "I was two when that happened, Velvet."

"Well… Blake was older."

" _Four_ ," Fox whispered.

Weiss retorted, "It isn't my fault!"

Velvet pointed, "You're wearing the SDC logo on your vest, Weiss!"

"It's my family crest!"

Velvet stamped her foot. "Your family committed genocide."

Coco's eyes darted across the courtyard, where Professor Goodwitch had stopped, sensing trouble. Coco waved her all-clear, and put a hand on her teammate.

"Hold on, Velvet. You've lost me. What's Chern- That word?"

"Really, Coco?"

Yatsuhashi nodded, "I do not know, either."

"I can't believe you two!"

Fox stepped closer. "Calm down, Velvet. It was a long time ago."

"A long time ago? Fox, that doesn't change it!"

"Not for us," Fox admitted. "But it had no effect on Coco's life, and it isn't a recent event. You can't expect people to know history just because it matters to you."

Velvet's emotions had been building with the topic. Coco removed her hand from Velvet's shoulder, and the bunny faunus steadied her breathing.

"You're right, Fox. I can't expect it from just anybody. But I can expect it from a Snow Queen," she decided.

And all eyes were returned to Weiss.

"Snow Queen?! How is that any different from me calling you a furry? I have a name!"

Velvet nodded instead of apologizing. She folded her hands in front of her and tried to keep a steady voice as she asked, "Okay, _Schnee._ What do you know about Chernobyl?"

Weiss folded her arms and huffed, preparing a spiel.

"Everything. It was the world's third largest Dust mine. But it was the densest and purest. The reactor was built underground so it could operate regardless of weather conditions. But the engineers didn't correctly factor in ambient sensor occlusion in low output situations, so the automated system flooded the primary chamber with pyroflux and poisoned the reactor core. The human operator had bad information from his sensors and tried to solve the problem by re-burning expended core material. That started a self-sustaining reaction that was out of operator control. They attempted to flush the super-reaction down an empty mine shaft, but it detonated while it was being handled. The reaction contaminated the raw Dust vein, and... It spread before anyone had a chance to evacuate."

Velvet licked her lips and said, "You make it sound like an accident. But every single human staff member survived. And ten-thousand faunus went boom."

"No, they didn't, Velvet. There was no boom. It was a diaspora phenomenon. The Dust vein shirked its energy all at once, and every living thing had its aura stripped from its body. The structures are standing just as they were. It was quick. They probably didn't know they were dead. You're right, though. My father was negligent with the lives of our faunus employees. But we have acknowledged and corrected that. Father made us memorize every detail of what went wrong there. We've made huge strides revolutionizing safety in the energy sector, and SDC has less than a hundred work-related fatalities per year. That may sound high, but... Well, mining is dangerous."

Velvet folded her arms across her chest, and noted with glances to her sides that she was alone in her offensive. "Well… I didn't know that. You should tell more people that, Weiss. It could cure a lot of the animosity-"

"We've made that public knowledge every year. And no, Velvet, it hasn't helped me make friends."

Weiss understood, as the words left her mouth, how hopeless her cause was. And more than being lonely, she hated letting people see it.

She whimpered, "Excuse me," and left before they could see her cry.

Coco sighed. "Great, Velvet. You Blake'd it."

These were the very scorns Weiss had hoped to avoid by becoming a huntress. Father had assured her that Huntsmen were a family. Somehow, she was still the pariah. But her brilliant mind had just been handed the solution to the puzzle. Her first test was Blake Belladonna. She had to prove, to herself, to Blake, and to the whole of Remnant, that this was not an alliance of circumstance or convenience.

Schnees stored their favors in the military. So Weiss had no trouble inviting herself plus one to a gala aboard _Eidolon_ at the last minute. This was an invitation no one could squint at. Or so she'd thought. Blake's reluctance was immediate and obvious.

Back in their dorm room, Blake stared at the invitation like she'd been handed used toilet paper.

Weiss was polite enough to offer her an out. "Of course, if you're busy..."

Her smile was forced. And in hesitating, her force faltered. Weiss felt a weight drop in her gut when Blake shook her head.

"No. No, we should hang out together, Weiss. And now's a good time, too. I like that idea. But..."

Blake pointed at the invitation, as if the problem was obvious. Weiss couldn't see a flaw in the wonderful evening she'd prepared.

"Maybe, somewhere else," Blake tried.

Weiss gaped. "Blake, it's a carrier! I don't think I'll even get this chance again! Do you never want to see the inside of a carrier? Or, or stand on the bridge and look out over all of Vale? Or-"

"Weiss, I've already been." Blake swallowed the lumpy fact and licked her lips.

Weiss didn't understand. "What? When? How?"

Blake held her hands out, as if it was obvious. "Um… Remember I was… you know… In the White Fang?"

"Oh," Weiss realized.

"Yeah. I kind of… Went on board once? And… Well, I think they'll remember me."

"Okay," Weiss agreed. "Maybe we should go somewhere else."

"I know a nice Cafe in downtown," Blake smiled. "It's very friendly."

Weiss took a step back. "The one Sun Wukong took you to?"

"Eww- no- the one _I_ took _him_ to," Blake laughed.

"Okay. It's a date, then," Weiss smiled.

Blake did not smile. She froze. "What?"

"It's a date," Weiss repeated.

Blake cleared her throat. "Um... It's a... It's a what?"

Weiss didn't understand the problem. She thought through her diction, second guessing her manners. They weren't talking business, so it wasn't a meeting. They weren't consulting, so it wasn't an appointment.

"It's an... Engagement?" Weiss tried.

"N-No. We're just friends, Weiss."

"Yeah? So?"

"So... It's called hanging out. It's not a date."

Weiss squinted at the casual phrase. _Hanging out._ She tried it quietly on her mouth.

"Very well," she said.

Yang and Ruby entered a minute later, just as Weiss and Blake were ready to head out.

"Going somewhere?" Yang asked Blake.

Weiss was excited by her first self-made play date. She interrupted, "Oh, we're just _hanging out._ "

She used air quotes to show that she knew she was using slang and shouldn't be judged for it. Yang stopped everything and stared at her, mouth slightly gaping. She looked to Blake for an explanation.

Ruby asked, "Wait. Weiss, you and Blake are dating? But you're both girls."

Yang corrected, "Ruby, girls date sometimes."

Blake hid her face.

They arrived half-an-hour later. Blake had been right. It was a nice place. Very _friendly_ , as she'd put it. She hadn't specified _Faunus_ friendly. She hadn't specified that it was a tea house, either. And the waiter appeared too early for Weiss to start her small talk and look at the menu. She'd barely sat down before she was being interrogated about her choice of drink.

"What can I start for you?" the intruder threatened.

Weiss looked for her menu, then opened it, then realized she was expected to answer quickly.

"I... Um..."

She looked through the menu and saw Tea. And Tea. And more Tea. This was not a café. She'd just walked into a tea house. She hoped there weren't any cameras. Father would send an extraction team if he heard she was in a tea house. But she could hardly ask Blake to leave now that they were here. Still... Tea?

She swallowed her pride and said, "Well. Isn't this cultural. I'll have Tea, please."

The waitress, and Blake, were staring at her.

"Tea?"

"Y-Yes," Weiss nodded.

"You've come to the right place, Miss. Did you have a particular tea in mind?"

Blake interrupted, "Oolong for me."

The waitress didn't bat an eye at that breach of protocol. She even looked away from Weiss to write it down.

"And some strawberry crepes and mint biscuits," Blake added.

Weiss caught Blake's glance in her direction. She'd seen it before in their live-fire drills, when Blake was covering her movement. Blake was buying her time. Weiss seized the menu and hurried to order.

"Jasmine," was a word she recognized.

When the waitress left, Weiss took a moment to settle her nerves, then sighed, and forced her smile out.

"Well, then. This is pleasant."

"Yeah," Blake agreed.

Weiss had prepared several topics for small talk. She tried to start with questions about Blake's time with Sun.

Blake spoke first. "I heard about you and Velvet."

Weiss guessed that argument was about to repeat itself.

But Blake was smiling. "I heard you told her off pretty good. Team Coffee likes you."

"What did I say?"

"You know how a lot of people hear something through the CCT and don't question it? Well, the faunus community uses word of mouth. And the word is Velvet mouthed off to you about Chernobyl, which she only knows about through rumors."

The faunus waitress returned with their drinks. Weiss inspected the rim of her cup for fur, then leaned back to her friend's gossip. "Go on."

Blake held her tea below her nose and smiled. "Is it true?"

"Well, I was having a bad day, because-" Weiss stopped herself. Her instructors had enumerated her character flaws. She didn't want to share that. And she didn't want to say anything that would get back to Velvet and make her feel the same way.

"I was eavesdropping," Weiss admitted. "Velvet said that we couldn't be friends. And I didn't want to hear that. So I started an argument."

"You and Velvet can't be friends?"

"No. She said you and I can't be friends."

"Oh." Blake lifted her tea to sip. Weiss was too afraid to ask if it was true. But Blake set her cup down and asked, "Did you set her straight?"

Joy plowed through Weiss' facade, and she realized that a real smile feels much better than a fake one.

"No. I mean, yes. But... I mean that..."

Her fingers played with the teacup. Her eyes looked down into the drink. She forced her chin up and said, "I argued with her because I was afraid she was right."

Blake didn't often look sympathetic. But now, she reached across the table and put a hand on Weiss'. She tried to say something, then held the words and licked her lips.

She said, "You make it really hard sometimes. But I can't judge you by the circumstances of your birth. Not after you've looked past mine. We can only really judge who we are _now_."

Weiss didn't want to show it, but that acknowledgment of her agency woke a limb neglected by her family.

Her eyes watered. She mumbled, "Thank you, Blake."

Blake looked down. She had already crossed into uncomfortable amounts of connecting. Weiss knew not to expect more. She was shocked when Blake said, "Don't take this the wrong way. But you make me think… I was wrong about the Schnees."

"And I was wrong about the faunus," Weiss agreed. Her disgust triggered, and she remembered, "Although Sun is still a degenerate animal."

Blake looked for a second as if she would take offense. Then she nodded and whispered, "Yeah, actually."

"Did something happen?"

"He took me on a date and, well, 'forgot' his wallet."

"That brute!"

"Yeah," Blake nodded.

The moment had ended. Blake's eyes darted over Weiss' shoulder, and her sympathy fell into the moody face she wore in class. Before Weiss could turn to see, Blake whispered, "Don't look. You should go."

Her gut filled in the situation. "Is it Jaune? He has flowers again, doesn't he?"

"Yeah. I'll cover for you. Go. Now."

"See you in the dorm," Weiss nodded.

She stood and hurried out, keeping her shoulders squared to the door and preparing to ignore Jaune Arc's desperate advances. But he never called. She passed outside undisturbed. Something was wrong. She couldn't resist a glance. Blake had lied. Jaune wasn't there. But in the booth across from Blake sat five faunus. They had all frozen mid-sip, smoldering anger directed Weiss' way. Their off-hands were beneath the table.

The pack leader set his tea down and turned to Blake. Weiss read on his lips, "Been a long time, Belladonna."


	12. Here With Me

Yang Xiao Long had lived a whole happy year without thinking of her biological mother. Now Raven was crashing into her thoughts again, like the train she'd nearly died on.

Aside from a decades old photograph, Yang had no idea what the woman looked like. From stories, she knew Raven had played the parts of both hero and villain. There was a statue of her in Vacuo. The police had slapped her wanted poster on it.

Tai said she had a soft side that she only revealed in private moments, like a candle held against her breast. Qrow said she just couldn't show her love. Yang felt like she was being spared from the truth she'd already deduced.

She sat up on her dorm room bed, and she said to the clouds out the window, "She doesn't love me."

She'd forgotten her company. Weiss sat across the room, studying. She was stunned by the outburst, but looked up with wonder and asked, "You're talking to me about this?"

Yang turned to Weiss. "Is that alright?"

"Yeah!" Weiss smiled, then tempered it and tried to look serious. But not too serious. Weiss' social discomfort always eased Yang's. She looked absolutely giddy about being confided in.

"Okay," Yang sighed.

"It's just, I thought you would talk to Ruby about it first."

"No. She's too young to understand."

"You would know better than me," Weiss agreed.

"It's…" Yang shook her head and looked out the window again. "Why doesn't she want me? How can you decide that before you see what a person will even become? Or is that it? Does she look at me and see some future that scares her? But if that's it… Ugh. People are supposed to stick together, Weiss!"

"It definitely isn't you, Yang. You're my favorite."

"Well, yeah, but you've never even met her, Weiss."

Weiss stopped nodding. She realized, dread grabbing her throat, that she had made a terrible mistake. Yang asked, "Who did you think I was… ?"

But then she understood, and marveled once again at Weiss' painful social skills. Weiss swallowed. Yang shook her head and looked out the window. "Yeah, I like Blake, a lot," she admitted.

Weiss folded her arms. "Who… Um… Who _were_ you talking about?"

"Raven. My biological mom."

"Oh."

Yang pulled a scrap book from under her bed, and handed Weiss the photo of team STRQ. Weiss studied the photo, taking in the faces she knew. Her eyes steeled, and Yang knew she was looking at Uncle Qrow. Then they darted over to Summer, and her eyes softened. She scanned across to Tai, and her eyes darted up to Yang's flowing, golden locks. She glanced back down to Raven, and looked again at Yang, to the curve of her cheeks and the sharp point of her dimples.

"She was beautiful," Weiss said.

"Yeah," Yang agreed. She took the photograph back, and returned it to the scrapbook.

Weiss pressed, "But, Yang, you… People like you, a lot. You don't have to feel alone. Everyone wants to hang out with you. I want to hang out with you more! And, well, I mean, _Blake_ and you."

"I haven't talked to her about this."

"Why not? Aren't you two… ?" Weiss nodded the implicit meaning.

"Because… All I'm really trying to say is, if my own mother can leave me, who won't?" She looked out the window again. Her tears caught the evening light.

"Blake won't leave you," Weiss said.

"You can't promise that, Weiss. You never really know a person- especially someone like Blake."

"She might join the White Fang again," Weiss blurted.

Yang rolled her eyes, suddenly remembering who she was talking to. "Weiss, could you just-?"

"-She met some at the café she took me to."

Yang's breath caught. She looked at Weiss.

"And she's not back yet," Weiss finished.

Yang snarled, "And you _left_ her there?"

"Oh come on, Yang! I'm the heir to the Schnee dynasty. Who do you think the real target was?"

Yang stood and gestured out the window. "She could be in danger! You should have said something!"

She reached for her keys on the dresser.

Weiss leaped up and covered them. "It's a tea house in the middle of downtown, Yang. They can't do anything there."

"Of course they can! They're the White Fang!"

"They weren't martyrs, Yang! They were probably the Shadow Pact."

"The what?"

"Oh, come on, Yang. The Shadow Pact. The White Fang's assassins. You know all those people Blake keeps sketching in her notebook? Don't you recognize Remnant's most wanted? Duh. They were sitting behind me, and I didn't notice them. Blake didn't want me to panic, so she told me that Jaune was behind me. But when I got outside, I saw that it was actually a bunch of faunus. I kept going, because I thought that she would want it to be private, but it's been almost half an hour now."

"Weiss, you could have at least called the police!"

"Oh, _GREAT_ _IDEA_ , Yang!"

Weiss held an imaginary scroll to her ear.

"'Hi there! This is Weiss Schnee! I just saw Blake Belladonna meeting with her old buddies in the White Fang! Please don't expel her or anything, though!'"

She hung up the imaginary phone and tossed it onto her bed.

Yang huffed. "We have to go rescue her."

The door beeped and opened. Blake stood on the other end, and didn't enter. Before she could talk, Weiss stepped forward and smiled pleasantly. "I hope Jaune didn't give you too much trouble."

Blake looked as if she'd just had a spat with Zwei. But she played into Weiss' faux ignorance and relaxed. "Yeah. No. I told him you were busy in meetings or something," she lied.

"Oh, thank you. Yang and I were worried, since you took so long to-"

"You were listening at the door," Yang interrupted.

Blake nodded. "Yeah."

Weiss pursed her lips shut.

Blake put a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks for not calling the cops."

"Just promise me you'll never entertain their presence again," Weiss said.

"I'm done with the White Fang," Blake promised.

Yang stepped in and placed a hand on Blake's shoulder. Their eyes met. She hesitated. She wiped away the tears. And Blake, in realizing, looked as if pain had wracked her heart. Weiss side-stepped her way to the door and whispered, "I'll go," as she left.

Yang gripped Blake's shoulders. Fresh tears brimmed under her eyes. "Blake."

Her voice shook. "Blake, just tell me that you're okay."

"I'm sorry I worried you," Blake whispered.

She pulled Yang into a hug, where she held her in silence. They swayed, pressed against each other, while Yang's tears ran like a river at its end. Her worries evaporated, and when she was finally ready to let go, the sun winked out on the horizon.

Their whispers were the only currents in the room. Their eyes were the brightest lights. And in each other's arms, their auras glowed and expanded as a diamond mist.

"You can't leave me, Blake."

"I can't stay next to you forever."

Yang held Blake's hands. She drew her fingers inside Blake's palms.

"But, whenever you leave, you have to promise me that you'll come back."

Blake folded her hands together, and held Yang's. She lifted Yang's chin, and said, "I'm here with you now, Yang. That's all I can promise."


	13. Shadowcat

Blake 'Shadowcat' Belladonna met eyes with the friends she'd abandoned. Five assassins of her caliber sat in human clothes around human drinks they'd bought with human money. But they had the look and the smell of the wilds in them, their fur on end and muscles taut for action. They sat like animals waiting for a threat to pass, eyes darting to every motion behind aesthetic glasses. She thought, it's a miracle they haven't been arrested yet.

The leader, a wolf named Umbra, was the only faunus who looked relaxed. He waved Blake to his table. Amethyst and Verdan made space for her.

Blake shook her head.

"Come on," Umbra nodded.

"No."

"But you'll sit with a Schnee?"

Blake nodded. "She's my friend."

Umbra ran his tongue behind his gums. "Are we still friends?" he asked.

Blake didn't answer. Umbra nodded his acceptance, or his disappointment. He muttered to the others, "I don't know about you guys, but I've lost my appetite."

They each cast a contemptuous glare at Blake, and stood to leave. She didn't meet their eyes. That she'd abandoned the whole of her life hurt enough; it hurt more that her new friends would find out. And what would they think of her, if they knew she could leave them too? She would tell them why she'd left: She was a freedom fighter; but in the company of Adam Taurus, she was never free.

Umbra stopped at her side. Instead of passing, he set a piece of paper on the table. Physical communication was outmoded, absolutely archaic, except in the Intelligence sector. He'd set a dossier on the table, a target for killing. But once had been enough for her. And twice had been too many.

"No," she said.

"It's not for you," Umbra mumbled.

"Don't leave it here."

"It's a hit I'm doing. I shouldn't have dropped it like this. That's clumsy. Anyone could come by and see that just sitting on the table you we're at. They'd probably arrest me. They'd _definitely_ arrest you."

"Damn you," she hissed.

"You don't recognize the face?"

Blake glanced at the paper. "No."

"The name?"

"No."

"How about the job title?"

"I don't care who he is."

"I bet you do."

"I don't," she growled. "And I'm sick of your games. I'm not going to kill for the White Fang anymore. I have a life now, and I'm going to live it my way. Now get out of here, or _I_ will call the police." She swallowed. She tried to drink her tea, but her shaking hand rattled the cup.

Umbra smiled. "That's an empty threat."

He pulled Weiss' chair out and sat. Blake bristled. Umbra stopped, realizing the effect he was having. He smiled, amused. "You don't have to be scared of me, Blake."

She swallowed. "Well… I am."

Umbra shrugged. He lifted Weiss' napkin and sniffed her lipstick. He nudged her silverware around and tried her tea, wearing her personality, examining her strange ways. Then the act ended, and he resumed his own ego.

"Never been this close to a Schnee," he admitted. "Banesaw says he almost killed her on the train. Were you there?"

Blake didn't have a weapon on her. She was certain that Umbra had something. He wouldn't want to be caught out and about with a Ballistic Chain Scythe; that would draw suspicion. If it came to a fight, he probably had a knife, and she had nothing.

"We're not after Weiss," Umbra said.

"I don't think we met here by accident," Blake answered.

Umbra nodded. His neutral, uncomfortable expression bloomed into a friendly smile.

"We care about you," he said. "It's been a while since we touched bases."

"Adam sent you."

Umbra shook his head. "We're not working for Adam. We're working for a human."

Blake had balled her fists. They relaxed now, in shock. "Don't tell me. Roman Torchwick?"

Umbra nodded. "Heard of him? He was throwing a lot of hits our way. Mostly just cleaning house. But it's not clear what the big picture is. Anyway, Tukson slipped under our nose, but-"

The name clicked in her mind. Blake blurted, "What?" She'd been at the crime scene, the day after. Tukson's Book Trade.

Umbra leaned back, repulsed by her ignorance. " _Tukson_. You've gotta remember. You're killin' me, Blake."

"That was Tukson? Like, from Chernobyl?"

"One and the same," Umbra nodded, "So Tukson slipped under our noses. But then Roman Torchwick handed me that dossier." He pointed to it, tempting her from the center of the table. "And I figured now was a good time to catch up."

Umbra was lying about something. The years of their relationship told Blake something was off. But what? Umbra put a hand on the dossier and slid it into her lap.

"Just read his crimes," Umbra begged.

So Blake looked into her lap. Feeling the paper gave her a rush of the familiar. She remembered nights spent at the camp fire evaluating hits and selecting priorities with her friends. The paper only covered the basics.

Who: Noir Soleil. Former Retinue Service. Former Ambassadorial Service. Active Atlas Intelligence.

What: No strategic value

When and Where: Goes for a walk every night at sunset. Same route. Outlined in figure 2.

Why: Chernobyl.

Blake wanted to set this down and go have fun with her team. But a part of her was still Shadowcat. And Shadowcat wanted to finish her work.

"You don't have to do anything," Umbra said.

She looked up from the paper. "You don't want me to kill him?"

"Personally, I want to kill him. I think everyone feels the same way," Umbra smiled. "Even the humans. A Specialist gave me this intel."

"It's a trap," Blake blurted.

"Oh, definitely. But they used _him_ as bait."

She looked at the picture again, taking in the face of evil.

"You don't want me to do anything?" she asked.

"We all thought you should get first pick. You know, since you… The point is, if you don't want it, I still just wanted you to know. He's gonna be dead soon, Blake. It's almost over."

Shadowcat smiled, her hatred stoked, but never sated. Blake had to correct that smile, to remind herself of the truths she'd learned. "It's a cycle, Umbra. It never ends. Not by your means."

Umbra nodded, but he didn't leave. She knew he didn't have what he wanted yet. She knew he wouldn't leave until he did. So she folded the paper and secured it in her pocket.

Umbra nodded and stood. "We're starting at the Crow Bar. Two days from now, six in the afternoon. See you there?"

"I'll be supporting my teammates in the doubles round," she said. "So, sorry."

Umbra shrugged.

"We'll wait. Three days from now, same time."

She didn't answer. Umbra laughed and left.


	14. Lore

Few know what it means to be truly quiet. But Blake Belladonna had learned and embraced the gift of her petite frame at a young age. She and silence were twins. She stood in professor Oobleck's office and watched him work. He hadn't noticed her enter. Minutes later, Oobleck finally looked up from his desk and startled.

He said, "Really? Again? Miss Belladonna, if you are trying to impress me… It's working."

Blake blushed and held out her assignment.

"You promised extra credit for a summary of Third Crusade."

"I did? Ah. Yes. I remember now."

Oobleck seized the assignment and flipped it open. His eyes skimmed every page like a mechanized loom, his finger flipping through leaves every few seconds. Blake stood in awe. She'd expected to hand it over and leave. She'd expected that Doctor Oobleck wouldn't actually care what some sixteen year old girl thought of a banned book. She especially didn't think that he would, or could, review her entire essay in a minute.

While he read, she grew too nervous to wait. "Professor Oobleck? Doctor? I… You didn't offer this assignment to anyone else. And… I mean, it's a banned book."

He looked up from the essay. "Yes? I can see that you're very distressed. Very, indeed. Why?"

"Well, I was in the White Fang. Third Crusade is the book that the White Fang distributes to recruit people. It's supposed to fill you with radical ideas and revolutionary zeal. Shouldn't you be telling me to not think about this stuff?"

She swallowed her fear. To the extent that she could, she'd learned to trust her professors.

Oobleck chuckled. "Thinking never did anyone wrong."

"But this is extremist literature. That's why the book was banned. Because it's full of dangerous thoughts."

Oobleck had frowned before. At her words, his frown soured.

"Miss Belladonna. There are many thoughts. Only one is dangerous. Never think that you are done thinking, that you've reached the time for action, and will never need to return to the abstract again. That thought is wrong. Always. It causes all bad decisions. It causes extremism."

"Oh," she said.

He looked back to the paper, finished reading it, and set it on his desk.

"Excellent. Very astute observations, Miss Belladonna. You understand the work very well. Not in its context. But otherwise, what I expected." He looked to her for an answer.

"I guess I do," Blake admitted.

She hoped that was enough. She raised her eyebrows as if to ask, "My grade?"

Oobleck looked back to the essay and frowned.

"You failed to mention the first Crusade. Even once. Why? Perhaps you don't know. Interesting. That would explain your misunderstanding of the terms 'Fate' and 'Destiny' in the author's context." He glared at her.

"Uh…" she said.

But the professor waited for something better. She thought aloud, "Aren't Fate and Destiny the same thing?"

"No. Destiny, you chose for yourself. Fate is beyond your power. The difference is the causal power. The author describes the world two ways. In one, The Will creates the world. In the other, the world creates people and their egos. The author seeks to convince faunus kind that their choice to rise up will create a new world for them. He sees Fate as an oppressor that can be overthrown."

She tried to absorb that knowledge. She wanted to leave. She wanted her grade. "O-okay. So… The other thing you said was… I didn't talk about the other Crusades. I know there were three crusades, but-""

"Two," Oobleck corrected.

Blake hugged herself and shifted her weight. "Two?"

"Yes."

"But, Professor, in Third Crusade, the author says that the third Crusade, of faunus reclaiming their place, was to make up for the second crusade, when humanity subjugated the faunus. Doesn't he mean the Great War?"

"The Great War was fought over the rights of the individual against the collective. Race was not a factor. Faunus units featured on both sides. The second crusade is metaphorical. The author is referring to the more than coincidental shift of power out of faunus hands and into human hands within society before, during, and after the Great War. Purely conceptual. There are very rarely instances of violence in that campaign."

"Oh," she mumbled.

Oobleck waited.

Blake asked, "But there's no book called First Crusade."

She realized her blunder as the words left her mouth.

" _Crusade_ ," she sighed.

"You understand now?"

Blake thought it through, then repeated aloud.

"I know _Crusade_ is an old holy book. I didn't realize it was about the First Crusade. I thought I was looking for a book called First Crusade. But… Well they wouldn't have called it that, would they? But I only forgot about it because the only people who still read it are... Well, The Special Retinue Service in Atlas."

"Your enemies," Oobleck nodded.

"You want me to study my… The people I used to shoot at?"

"Yes. You must understand the differences that drove you to violence. You chose to leave the White Fang. Why?"

She opened her mouth to answer.

He interrupted. "Rhetorical. Please don't say. Perhaps a change in ideology? Perhaps you defected from its vices. In either case, you must understand the ideological roots of your conflict. What drives the belligerence of a soldier from Atlas? You must wonder. And so you must discover."

He was quiet long enough for her to say, "O-okay. But… Race. We're faunus, and they're human. And humans hate faunus. That's why the White Fang and the soldiers of the Old World are at war."

Oobleck retracted from that. He had a coy smile. "Oh! Well then. History is solved. I should find a new profession."

But he didn't pack his bags. Blake sighed.

Oobleck ended his facetiousness there and took a long gulp of coffee from his thermos. "Ahhhh. There. No, Miss Belladonna. The world is not so simple. Perhaps you've forgotten Chernobyl. Those atrocities. Well… A faunus, you know the name- Tukson- made them possible. And often the White Fang relies upon human alliances. As you've noted."

Blake understood what he meant. "Like Roman Torchwick."

"Who?"

"Well, you know how Team RWBY has been in the news a lot lately? We kind of busted a lot of White fang operations at the docks. And there was this mobster named-"

"Oh. Yes. Sorry. Continue."

Blake nodded. She thought Oobleck's counter-points over in her head. She didn't have a historical narrative that accounted for them. She looked at her essay on the table.

"So… Do I get the extra credit?"

"What? Yes. Excellent work. That should bring your grade up to a B. I'd like to offer you another special assignment, Miss Belladonna."

"Book report on _Crusade_?"

"Yes."

"Slight problem, Doctor Oobleck."

"What?"

" _Crusade_ is a banned book, too. And… I've never read it before. So…"

She trailed off the sentence so he could provide the answer.

He blinked at her. "Ah! Yes. Not to worry. It was on the shelf above Third Crusade."

"Uh..."

Blake felt the truth creeping on her. Somehow, she'd been caught.

"On the… I'm not sure what you mean, Professor." She took a step toward the door.

Oobleck set his work aside. He steepled his hands at his desk's center and gave her his full, shoulders-squared attention. Slowly, slower than he usually spoke, he hummed, "You are a very clever young girl, Miss Belladonna. But I am much older and much wiser than you. I know that you broke into the banned books archive and stole the fifth edition copy of First Crusade. You were also very meticulous about returning it every night."

Blake swallowed. She had to run. She refreshed her mind on the escape routes she'd planned. Her nearest bug-out bag was stashed at the tool shed in the public gardens. She could change colors there and use the pre-paid transit passes to make it as far as the wall. She saw that Oobleck's expression had changed. Before, he'd been menacing, now he looked worried.

"Oh. Miss Belladonna, you are not in trouble."

She breathed.

Oobleck laughed. "Ha! Goodness. I wouldn't dream of punishing an inquisitive mind. Haha! Did you think that-? Ha! It doesn't bear mentioning. But please, you must indulge me and ask how I caught you."

Blake felt dizzy. She sat in the guest chair and straightened her school uniform.

"Professor, I can't… I'm sure no one saw me. I…"

"No one saw you," he smiled.

"Then… How?"

She saw his smile broaden. Oobleck pushed the essay to her and tapped the title.

"I wrote the fifth edition. And I published only one copy. Directly to the Archive. When I gave you the assignment."


	15. Scars

Team RWBY walked down Beacon's hallways. Weiss jumped ahead and addressed everyone.

"Ruby, I think you should be the one to knock on the door. As Team Leader, you really bring a pleasant enthusiasm to our group that will go over well during introductions. Make sure you shake hands with Coco first, since she's their team leader."

Ruby recognized Weiss' social anxiety manifesting as bossiness. In these situations, she'd learned to say, "Okay, Weiss."

Weiss turned to Blake, who interrupted, "Let me guess... The back?"

"You never _smile_!" Weiss strained.

Blake forced a sigh. "We're here to relax. It's not a networking event."

" _Everything_ is a networking event," Weiss huffed.

Yang smirked, "Yeah, we gotta figure out where all the _other_ parties are."

Ruby tugged Yang's arm. "Hey, Sis? We can hang out all party, right?"

Yang kept her smile, though it was strained. "Yeaaaahh. I was thinking we would actually not, Ruby. You've gotta meet more people from other teams."

Weiss clasped her hands in pleading. "Ruby. Girls. This is the first time another team has invited us to a party! They're cooler and older than us! Just... Don't mess it up, okay?"

Down the hallway, Team JNPR stepped out of their room and walked the same direction. Weiss hurried up to them and caught Pyrrha Nikkos' attention. "We're on our way to Team CFVY's event. Were you invited, too?"

Team JNPR stopped and turned to Jaune Arc, their leader.

He asked, "Is it invitation only?"

Nora Valkyrie shouted, "Of course not! It's a _dorm_ party!"

Beside her, Lie Ren murmured, "Nora. Inside voice."

Pyrrha Nikkos put a hand on Weiss. She smiled, and the smile spread like a miracle, until everyone, especially Weiss, was giggling at her anxiety. Weiss blushed.

"S-sorry, Pyrrha. I just…"

"Oh, I know. We're both famous, Weiss. But it's just a few Beacon teams at this party. I think we're among friends today. So, we won't have to perform."

There were many traits to praise about Pyrrha Nikkos. She was envied for her beauty, feared for her perfect tournament record, universally praised as an athlete, and adored by teachers for her scholastic record. Despite these accomplishments, kindness was her signature.

The sweetness of her voice, and the sincerity of her friendship, carried them onward with light hearts. They stopped at Team CFVY's door. The music inside shook beyond the threshold. Ruby slapped the keypad and the door slid open to reveal a wall of beads.

Ruby squealed with delight and sprinted through. Jaune, more cautiously, stepped through and commented, "Hey, neat."

Their teams followed and quickly filled the room. Coco had brewed coffee and spice to scent the space. She relaxed on her beanbag with an espresso shot. She scooted over as Ren and Nora sat with her. Velvet had been busy preening her rabbit ears when Blake entered. Spotting another faunus, she flexed her nose as a question. Blake flared her eyes and nodded in agreement. They sat together, and Blake commented quieter than the music. "It's not a subtle flavor."

Velvet shrugged. "Coco says she won't negotiate on the coffee. Sorry."

Blake smiled. "They're human. What can ya' do?"

Velvet laughed as a trained response. Then she realized, "Wait. Was that a race joke? Was that a _terrorism_ joke?"

Blake held a finger to her lips and smiled far more deviously.

Ruby Rose, meanwhile, had found the most awesome place to sit, just beside the giant, Yatsuhashi. He sat cross-legged in the room's center, deep in meditation despite the reverberating bass.

Jaune sat across from Yatsuhashi and said, "Hey, Ruby."

She chimed, "Hey, Jaune. How's the team doing?"

"Pretty well. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this whole leadership thing."

"Yeah, me too," Ruby hummed.

Their conversation died there. Yatsuhashi meditated.

Ruby tried, "Do you think there will be cookies?"

Jaune craned his neck around, lingered as he saw Weiss sitting beside Pyrrha, then turned back and shook his head.

Ruby nodded to her teammate. "No luck with Weiss, yet?"

Jaune scratched the back of his head. "Not… Yet."

He sighed and collapsed, looking defeated. Ruby rocked back and forth, short on ideas for fun. "Well," she encouraged, "at least Weiss and Pyrrha are getting along well."

Weiss sat upright, carefully choosing which names to drop, timing her social maneuvers, and trying to mimic Pyrrha's manners. She was having trouble keeping this much focus and maintaining the topic.

Pyrrha shrugged and turned her palms up. "Sometimes I feel like I can't be any more blunt. And it makes me wonder, am I unclear when I communicate?"

Weiss nodded. "Yeah, Pyrrha. You get your… I mean, no. I'm never really confused about what you're talking about. Except, just now, I kind of lost you. You were talking about Jaune, right?"

Weiss tried to keep smiling and look involved so Pyrrha wouldn't think she was insane. Pyrrha's smile dimmed to worry.

Later that night, Team RWBY returned to their dorm. Blake quietly curled up in bed with a book. Yang paced in the room's center, energized by the fun. Ruby yawned and retrieved her bestiary for homework. Weiss locked the door behind her, heaved a breath of relief, and groaned.

"Ugh. I hope the rest of you had a good showing, because I made a fool of myself. Pyrrha is _never_ going to talk to me again. Blake, I saw you talking to Velvet. Did you… ?"

Weiss trailed off as she realized what Blake was reading.

She pointed. "Where did you get that?"

"I stole it," Blake hummed.

Yang stopped her pacing and read the title. _Commentaries on_ _Crusade_.

Weiss turned to Yang. "I don't think she's just leading me on this time," she whispered.

Yang sighed. "Blake? Did you really steal that?"

Ruby answered for her. "Yeah. But it's okay, because Doctor Oobleck told her to."

"It's just a book," Yang noted.

"It's _Commentaries on Crusade,"_ Weiss corrected, "Which is almost as bad as having a copy of _Third Crusade."_

Blake, without looking, pulled an old copy from under her mattress and showed Weiss.

"Wow. Okay. Still, it's not as if you have a copy of _Crusade._ "

Blake looked up from her reading to glare.

"Oh no," Weiss realized.

Blake returned to reading.

Yang shrugged. "So she's got some banned books."

"Yang, the only people who are allowed to have copies of those books are the Special Retinue Service and the Archives Office."

"And the School," Ruby noted.

"Also a handful of independent academies," Blake mumbled.

"So it's just one of those little rule things we're always breaking," Yang shrugged. She sat beside Blake.

Weiss sat on her own bed and sighed. "I guess so," she relented.

Yang laid down beside Blake and rested her head on her shoulder, on the pretext of reading along. She felt the comfort of skin contact, and listened intently to her breathing.

Weiss threw herself onto her pillow and snapped, "Well? You're putting us all at risk by taking it here, Blake, so you might as well read out loud." She didn't look at them.

Blake glanced across the room, then turned down into Yang's eyes, to frown her disapproval. Yang smiled and whispered, "She doesn't want to admit she wants you to read to her."

Blake looked confused. But she shrugged and read aloud.

"Unlike common pre-Crusade stories, The Girl is not a symbol of purity as virtue. The Girl's purity only matters in the narrative to her utility as a sacrifice. Aside from this technicality, careful readers will note that _Desecration of the Tower_ shares much of its symbolism with the story _The Girl in the Tower_. Both stories share the same cast and the same conflict. The Girl, the Two Crusaders, and the Two Prisoners (or, "The Guilty Spark which catalyzes transformation" in _Crusade_ DoT 3:43). However, the roles and outcomes differ wildly. For example, the Crusader with Power Over Life is antagonized by the Crusader with Power Over Death in the _Desecration of the Tower._ Whereas in _The Girl in the Tower_ , they work together against The Agent and his desecration."

"-UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," Ruby summarized.

Blake stopped there. She'd made her point: The book was banned to protect children from boredom.

Yang found it more interesting. She frowned. "The Girl in the Tower. That's a children's story."

Blake whispered, "Oh. I was raised with The Desecration of the Tower."

Together, they asked, "What's yours about?"

They laughed.

Ruby looked away from her studies, to watch them. She was old enough to realize something unusual was happening in that bed. She looked down at Weiss, to see if it was just her. But Weiss had curled up with a pillow and clutched her apple necklace. She looked unhappy, or asleep. It was hard to tell in the darkness.

Yang and Blake's giggles continued.

"Okay. Okay, I'll go first," Yang offered. "The Girl in the tower is basically a princess. She's just turned sixteen, so…" Yang eyed the meaning.

Blake smirked, "Like us."

Yang blushed. "Uh. Y-yeah. Well she gets kidnapped by a Grimm Dragon! He takes her to the top of a distant tower. Two Crusaders decided to rescue her, but they each wanted to reach her first. One had the power of life. The other had the power of Death. Each took with him a manservant who owed them a life debt. The Crusader with power over life rescued the girl from the dragon and freed his manservant. And they lived happily ever after. Or at least, that's the short version."

Ruby asked, "Hey, Yang? How come everybody's a guy in this story?"

Yang guessed, "Well, it was before the Great War. Uncle Qrow said there used to be just as many guys as girls."

Blake smirked. "No way. Guys are, like, an eighth of the population."

Yang shrugged. "I dunno. How's your story go?"

Blake saved her spot in the book and folded it closed.

"I think it starts with a tower. Salem is standing atop a tower and performs a ritual that turns the sun black."

Ruby and Yang asked, "Who?"

Blake hesitated. "Um… Salem? You know when you're near Grimm, or just, in general when you're really involved in the struggle and there's that voice opposing you? Like, friction to your optimism, telling you that you'll fail, that you'll never be anything. That voice is Salem."

"Oh. Okay."

"So Salem turns the sun black. The Queen of the Hunt climbs the human tower to change the sun back to normal. The human crusaders try to stop her. So she binds the souls of the dead and forces them to fight for her. She climbs the tower and sacrifices herself, and the sun rises again for another day."

Yang waited a beat, then asked, "And they all lived… ?"

Blake shook her head. "It's supposed to happen in a cycle, like the seasons."

Ruby asked, "But… Wait, who's the hero?"

"Well, the Queen of the Hunt. Because she brings back the sun and opposes Salem."

"But she dies," Ruby corrected.

Blake thought about it, then asserted, "Yeah. Heroes die."

Ruby didn't like this conversation. She looked down to Weiss, who lay as before, curled up with herself, eyes watering, hand trembling as she gripped the apple charm on her necklace.


	16. Ozluminati

Force Specialist Winter Schnee vectored like a bull across Beacon's courtyard. Civilians evacuated her path. The pillars encircling this plaza had supported Vale's first colosseum, three-thousand years ago. Now, they were decorative, a memento to the academy's legacy. In the sky above her hung the new colosseum, a flying rock with the same square meterage as the school. Its spires and turrets overshadowed even Vale's CCT Tower.

Winter crossed into the CCT's marble foyer and stopped at the elevators. Her secondary, Agent Hikari Oni, stopped beside her. Winter's White uniform, beside Hikari's Black, drew curious glances from Vale's citizens. That, and they were sharp young women in their prime.

Winter summoned the elevator, then glanced to her soldier. It was easy to forget that Hikari was forty years her senior. Modern medicine and constant exercise kept her twenty.

They had worked together long enough for Winter to sense tension.

Hikari was staring through the elevator and past the horizon. She had seen one of these towers, the icons of civilization, overrun by forces of evil. Winter had only heard stories of Mountain Glenn, of her cousin Apple's demise. Hikari had been there.

Winter softened her voice, but ordered, "Something's on your mind, Agent."

Hikari's eyes focused. She swallowed, then drawled, "I hope you didn't bring me just to carry your folders, Specialist."

Winter nodded. "General Ironwood wants a report on our progress. He wants this report in Ozpin's office. We can assume that Headmaster Ozpin and his assistant, Miss Goodwitch, will be there."

It was a subtle expression, but a dimple formed on Hikari's cheek. "We're meeting the Ozluminati."

Winter nodded. "Quite. Remember what Doctor Oobleck said to us?"

"The story of the Four Maidens?"

"Yes. I'm starting to suspect that we've interpreted his words wrongly."

"How's that?"

"I believe he meant for us to take him literally, Hikari."

Hikari's dimple vanished. She looked concerned. "Are you going to say that in your presentation?"

"I am going to make some unorthodox statements, yes. I want you here as a second set of eyes."

"What am I looking for?"

"The General has more information than he's giving us. Likely, Headmaster Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch do as well. I'm going to provoke them. I want you to read their reactions."

"I'll stay alert."

"And say nothing of Noir Soleil or Blake Belladonna."

The elevator door opened, and they stepped inside. When the doors closed, Hikari began, "About that-"

"-the elevators are bugged," Winter snapped.

The elevator rose, and the sun fell, sharpening Mountain Glenn's range on the horizon.

Winter had to ask. "What was it like?"

Hikari swallowed while she thought. "Surreal."

"And the Grimm with aura?"

"I know what I saw."

"And Apple? Why did she jump?"

"No idea."

"You found her. You put her on the bullhead. She never said anything?"

"She was in shock. And on the bullhead, she was closer to Captain Gray. _Fleet Commander_ Gray."

Their silence was long. The ride was longer.

"I'm sorry," Hikari said.

The doors opened for Ozpin's office, and Winter's gut told her she'd walked into a trap. Ozpin, Ironwood, and Glynda were waiting for her. She'd expected them. She'd expected Qrow's absence. She had not expected Noir Soleil's presence. That vicious old man stood like a bird perched over his cane, a direct glare like a spear holding her at bay.

Winter and Hikari crossed the room, passing the giant clockwork aesthetic defining the office's north side. Hikari's boots made muted thumps. Winter's heels clacked in time with the clockwork. They stopped and saluted at Ozpin's desk.

Ironwood relieved them. "Specialist Winter, this is Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy, and his assistant Glynda Goodwitch. You might recognize Noir Soleil from the State Department. He served as Ambassador to Mountain Glenn, but is currently working at the Intelligence Bureau. You can consider everyone in this room to have full clearance."

Winter waited for a respectful beat, then asked, "Should I begin my presentation, Sir?"

"Please."

"Mountain Glenn was no accident. We have extensive evidence of sabotage in primary and secondary defenses, including structural compromises of the wall and of the shield generators, disruptions in the emergency alert systems, and the twenty minute outage of surveillance equipment which allowed the Grimm swarm to skip so close to the city."

Winter held out her hand. Hikari gave her a folder.

"Our prime suspects were Doctor Merlot and 'The Woman in Red.' We are fairly certain the Merlot family did not engineer their own deaths. They were caught off guard by the Grimm assault. Doctor Merlot, himself, appeared unhappy with that outcome in his testimony- before his disappearance. We were never able to tie him to a conspiracy to destroy the city. That leaves the Woman in Red."

Winter scattered the folder's contents on the desk. A series of photographs, blurry, pixelated, showed three huntresses battling in the CCT subnode's foyer.

Winter pointed. "Note the time stamps on these photos. These are from the evacuation."

Noir Soleil retrieved glasses from his coat and examined the pictures, the three huntresses. He grunted, "Which one's which?"

Winter pointed to a huntress in a white cape. "We believe this is Summer Rose."

She pointed to a red and black kimono. "This is Blackbird."

She nodded to Glynda and Ozpin, translating, "Raven Branwen."

She pointed to a red, thigh length dress with gold inlays. "And this is The Woman in Red."

Ozpin leaned forward, examining the image closer. "And who is the young girl hiding under the table?"

Glynda, Soleil, and Ironwood all leaned in closer to see the detail.

"Well spotted," Ironwood nodded. He looked to Winter.

She answered, "Apple Schnee."

That drew a quick glance from Soleil and Ozpin.

Glynda tilted her head at the photographs. "The angle is too low for security cameras."

Winter gestured to her side. "These are still frames taken from Agent Hikari's shoulder camera."

Hikari was honored with her own glance, from everyone. Soleil nodded and smiled. The Huntsmen looked more serious. They were accustomed to the status of gods in combat. It was difficult to imagine a mere human wading into that fight and walking out with the prize. But killing huntsmen was the Retinue's job. Hikari stayed at attention.

Ozpin cleared his throat. "Specialist. Have we questioned Miss Branwen?"

"Blackbird has been rogue for several decades, Headmaster. We haven't had the opportunity."

Noir pointed to the photo. "And Summer Rose?"

Ozpin murmured, "Deceased."

Glynda offered, "And Apple Schnee?"

"She's dead," Winter snapped.

She hadn't said it before. She hadn't expected it to be so painful. She had sensed, for an instant, that she was unravelling. She swallowed, and regained her composure.

Glynda nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Noir was busy with another photograph. Agent Hikari clearly had Apple in her hands.

He glared at her. "I don't understand. Did you rescue her, or not?"

"She was never evacuated."

"So we've just got you."

"And I have no memory of the Woman in Red's face."

"That's fair," Ozpin hummed.

He pointed to each huntress. "Summer has a hood, Raven has a bone helmet, and while we can't see her face from this angle, it seems that our Woman in Red is wearing a mask."

Ironwood asked, "Is this all you have?"

Winter and Hikari exchanged a glance. He'd said "you," not "we."

Winter held out a hand for the next file. "The Woman in Red leaves a trail. We're not sure how to describe it, but one of my team members is an aspiring scientist. He has a machine that detects it. We've been able to associate her with several objects and locations."

She laid out a photograph.

"Summer's cape," Ozpin said.

Winter laid out another. "Note the White Fang markings on the side of this VTOL craft. Vale Aeronautics Bullhead, Dual-Rotor. It was repossessed by local authorities when it was destroyed in a battle at Vale's docks, several months ago. We believe the Woman in Red was standing in the port side-door and… doing whatever leaves her trail."

"Her… Trail…" Glynda said.

"It's a persistent phenomena of anomalous Dust behavior and extreme electromagnetics."

"Elect… What?"

"Electromagnetism, Ma'am. It is a relatively new field in physics that unifies our understanding of magnets and lightning. It has very little practical application. But it is easily detectable. We believe the Woman in Red leaves persistent phenomena whenever she engages in combat."

Glynda glanced down at the photograph. Her pupils dilated and she looked to Ozpin.

She said, "The night we found Ruby."

He raised an eyebrow. They both looked back at Winter. They looked impressed. Winter laid out five more photographs.

"These are from a field two-hundred miles north-east of Vale, near the ruins of Ditch. The town was destroyed. A battle occurred in the field the day after. The Woman in Red was in both of those locations. From the field, we recovered two items."

She laid out another picture. "A glass slipper."

She laid out the last picture. "And an apple. It has not expired after thirty days. It does not rot, bruise, age, or lose its ripe smell. We have no idea what to make of this."

Noir didn't bat an eye. Ironwood, Ozpin, and Glynda had the knowing look of gamblers hiding their hands.

Ironwood asked, "What lead you to that field?"

"We were tracking Blackbird."

She nodded to Soleil, "To question her. We believe she was tracking Qrow Branwen. We believe he was on his way to meet a woman named Amber. She's gone missing."

Ozpin steepled his hands and rested his mouth behind them. Glynda shifted her weight towards Ironwood, glanced his way, and cleared her throat. Ironwood stood straighter. They knew damn well where Amber was.

Ozpin spoke from behind his hands. "Per-sis-tent, Electro-magnetic, Phe-nom-ena. Persistence is not normal of magnetism or lightning."

Winter nodded. "Well said, Headmaster."

"Is that all of the evidence you've gathered?"

"Yes, Headmaster."

Ozpin turned. "And Noir, your office has received all of this?"

Noir nodded.

"Thank you for your time then, Mister Soleil," Ozpin dismissed.

Noir understood to leave. When the elevator closed him out, Ozpin lowered his steepeled hands and leaned forward.

"Agent… Hikari, was it? If I know soldiers, you have found a much shorter, informal name for this persistent electromagnetic phenomena."

Hikari looked to Winter. Winter nodded a mere centimeter.

Hikari nodded. "Yes."

"What do you call it?"

"Magic."

"And what do you call The Woman in Red?"

Winter answered, "We call her the Fall Maiden."

Ozpin smiled. He looked to Ironwood. "I'm rather happy with this progress."

Ironwood nodded. "As am I. Specialist, take my word for this: Amber is a dead end. Focus on identifying and neutralizing Blackbird and the Woman in Red." He looked to Glynda and Ozpin. "Is that all the questions we have?"

No one answered. Hikari gathered up the photographs, and Ironwood dismissed them. The elevator ride down was long and quiet. Hikari scribbled notes onto her scroll. Winter stared at Mountain Glenn. Out in the courtyard, as they crossed under the shadow of the tower, Hikari stopped. Winter turned to watch her.

"Agent?"

"Specialist. You should listen to this."

Winter stepped closer. Hikari switched on her scroll's speakers.

Ironwood's voice grumbled, "She's not close enough. We have to act now."

Glynda shouted at him, "She has at least three days, James! We know nothing will happen until at least the finals round of the tournament. Give them _three_ days! Then we can discuss it."

"Why?! The whole of Vale is at risk here, Glynda!"

Ozpin murmured, "Qrow. You don't have to hide behind that pillar anymore."

Winter heard his footsteps, the harsh, steel-rimmed boots clicking on tile. She heard him scratch his beard, and she remembered the rough texture.

She clenched her fists. "Hikari?"

"Specialist?"

"Why can I hear what they're saying?"

"Because I bugged his desk, Specialist."

Winter could not clench her fists hard enough.

She shook. "You… _What?_ "

Hikari muted the audio.

Winter hissed, "You have been questioning every decision I have made for two straight years, Agent! You point to the line every time we get near it, and now you do this?! You've just committed espionage against Vale's Head of State! It's a violation of our military treaties with Vale! _"_

She saw Hikari's dimple of levity form again. "The Retinue isn't in Atlas' military, Specialist. Not yet, anyway. We answer to the Crown of Mantle."

"Mantle is defunct! There hasn't been a Monarch for two-hundred years! You answer to the regent, and the regency belongs to General Iron-" She realized, shocked, what had happened.

"Hikari? Did the General-"

"-There's a policy in the military that I'm pretty fond of, Winter. Don't ask; Don't tell."

Hikari winked, and unmuted the audio.

Qrow had turned angry. "I'm with Glynda. Give Winter a chance to set this right. Sacrificing Amber is a last resort. If we kill the Woman in Red, Amber gets her soul back and might make a full recovery."

Ironwood pounded the table. "She's missing half her soul! Every minute she lives is a miracle that we don't even understand! She could relapse at _any_ moment! And _when_ she dies, not _if_ , The Woman in Red receives the full powers of the Fall Maiden. The Equinox hits in three days. Meanwhile, Qrow was too drunk to remember what our suspect even looks like."

"I wasn't drunk. I was hallucinating."

"That's an irrelevant distinction, Branwen."

"No. It isn't. She has a way to hide her face. It might be a semblance."

"Regardless! We don't know who we're looking for. Time is against us. I have ten-thousand marines ready to lay down their lives for Vale, and if Amber was any one of them, we wouldn't be debating this. You have to pick someone, Ozpin. We have to kill Amber and put her soul into a new maiden. It's the only way to keep the powers safe."

That brought a silence.

Hikari looked up at Winter, mouth hanging open in disbelief. She mouthed, "What the-"

In the office, Glynda whispered. "How much of your heart did they replace with Iron?"

Ozpin made his decision. "I already have someone in mind. Pyrrha Nikos. But I agree with Glynda and Qrow. Amber has… _Winter_ has three days. Qrow? What are you looking at?"

"They're watching us."

Glynda's heels clicked away from the microphone, to Qrow's side.

"They're just standing in the courtyard, Qrow. You're paranoid."

"No. I know when I'm being watched."

Winter slid Hikari's scroll closed and strode away.


	17. A Penny For Your Thoughts

Agent Ciel Soleil placed a finger to her ear and announced, "TacCom, Ciel. Penny Polendina has entered the Fairgrounds."

She guided Penny to the metal detector, where two Atlas soldiers made quick work of Security Theater. The line was still a few minutes long, so Ciel grabbed Penny's hand, to keep her from wandering.

Penny smiled at the contact. "Are we friends, Miss Ciel?"

"No, Ma'am."

"But you said you like my dress and my sunhat. And now we're holding hands."

"A soldier on duty has no friends, Ma'am."

"Next!"

They took a step forward. Ciel checked her watch. Penny finished maintenance on her combat batteries two hours ago. Her servo check was a week overdue, and she had a heat sink cleaning in five hours. Before then, she had three hours scheduled for socialization.

Penny leaned over to ask, "Why do you check your watch so much, Miss Ciel?"

"I am confirming our timetable, Ma'am."

"Next!"

Penny and Ciel stepped up to the metal detector. The soldier, Cobalt, wore a bright nametag sticker over his breastplate. He rambled through a spiel.

"No weapons are allowed on the fairgrounds except to on duty military and law enforcement officers. No exception for huntsmen or students. Do you have any weapons, armor, ammunition, accessories, prosthetics, cybernetics, or metal plating to declare?"

Ciel revealed her SRS badge. She could bring in whatever she wanted. Penny walked through and set the alarms off.

"Oh gosh. I guess I must be carrying some metal," she said.

Cobalt sighed. His partner grumbled, "Worst kept secret in Remnant."

Ciel silenced him with a sharp glance. She passed through the metal detector and the alarms sounded again. On the other side, Penny covered her mouth.

"Oh wow! I guess we were both carrying metal, Miss Ciel."

"Yes, Ma'am."

She gestured Penny onwards, towards people. Ciel had three orders from General Ironwood: Protect Penny's secret, make her socialize, and keep her away from Ruby Rose. Penny drew her from her thoughts.

"You know, Miss Ciel, it's been six hours since you've had anything to eat. I bet that's why you were looking at your watch."

"Actually, Ma'am, I was thinking about you."

Penny peered at her. "Are you sure we're not friends, Miss Ciel?"

"Select a location to eat at, Ma'am."

They had a large variety before them. The whole world had representation in cuisines, cultures, and clientele. The fields around the Vytal stadium swayed with colored fabrics and the trade of stories and goods. The population, and the commotion, easily compared to the city itself. Penny pointed at a cobbler's tent.

She said, "Eating new things is always good, Miss Ciel. And I read on the CCT network that shoes are edible!"

"Yes, Ma'am," Ciel nodded. "But they are very chewy."

Penny widened her eyes to show surprise.

"Oh! Have you already eaten shoes before, Miss Ciel?"

"Yes, Ma'am. During survivalist training all members of the Special Retinue Service are required to climb a mountain on the northern ice caps."

"Mount Blue Balls!"

"The official name is Peak Thirty-Three, Ma'am. Let's eat over here."

Ciel pointed to a stand offering Vale cuisine: Fish and Rice. She started walking.

Penny followed, asking, "Did you eat your shoes on the mountain?"

"Not mine, Ma'am. But yes. A recruit named Midori… dropped our provisions down a ravine."

"You must be pretty mad at her," Penny guessed. "Or you wouldn't have told me her name."

Ciel didn't answer. She flattened her combat skirt and sat at a stool. Over her left shoulder, she glimpsed a man holding his rifle at low ready, finger on his trigger. She looked again. Not a man; an Elysian Knight. The robotic soldiers had no protocol for stowing their weapons. Their engineers had overlooked the implications of warlike posture.

"Miss Ciel?"

Penny had seen her look at the knight.

She asked, "Why do humans hate robots?"

Two rice bowls arrived, and Ciel used the excuse of eating to think. Penny took her own chopsticks and picked up some rice. Ciel tried not to stare. But curiosity got the best of her. She watched Penny toy with the rice.

Penny watched her watching. "Miss Ciel?"

Ciel looked away. When she looked again, Penny's chewing seemed genuine.

"Humans do not hate robots," Ciel said.

"Miss Ciel, Humans do not treat robots as well as they treat animals."

Ciel filled her mouth to avoid answering.

Penny continued, "Humans like animals. Ruby Rose has a dog named Zwei. She says Zwei is part of her family and she loves him like a brother who can't talk. She feeds Zwei and takes him for walks and talks to him about her problems. I would like a dog. Ruby also has a sister. I would like to have a sister. If we can't be friends, can we be sisters, Miss Ciel?"

"No, Ma'am."

"Darn. But on the topic, I wonder why humans do not adopt robots. Perhaps because organic companions are more economical. But I am not so sure, because sometimes Zwei breaks things. I think a robot companion would be far more careful with Ruby's toys. I wonder if we will meet Ruby today. What do you think, Miss Ciel?"

Ciel understood her orders now. She understood why Penny needed a handler to separate her from Ruby. Penny had a schoolgirl crush.

"I think humans won't learn to like robots until we learn to like faunus, Ma'am."

"But Shadowcat and Weiss Schnee are already friends."

Ciel hadn't heard about Blake and Weiss. She wondered if Winter knew.

She turned to Penny. "Where do you keep learning Retinue slang?"

"From Father. He was a founding member of a unit called-"

"-That's classified, Penny. If your father was in the Retinue, you should never discuss it."

"Oh. Sorry, Miss Ciel. Anyway, perhaps someday robots and humans can get along like Shadowcats and Schnees."

"We're behind schedule, Ma'am."

Ciel stood. Penny followed, but she placed her hands on her hips and countered, "Friendship has no schedule, Miss Ciel."

Ciel faced Penny at parade rest.

"Duty does. Please select a stranger in the crowd and begin socializing. I will step in to the conversation to support you at your signal, Ma'am."

Penny relented. She stood straight and turned ninety degrees. Then she turned again. Two women, green and red, were walking this way. Penny angled herself, then walked at them, like a robot on a mission. Ciel cringed. She didn't want to watch. Duty, and morbid curiosity, forced her.

Penny introduced herself by shouting "Sal-U-Tations! My name is Penny Polendina! And you two are Emerald Sustrai and…"

Penny hesitated on the next woman. This caught Ciel's attention. Penny had a high-speed connection to Atlas' Identification databases. She recognized everyone. Always.

"I have no idea who you are!" Penny announced.

The stranger, a woman in red, placed a hand on her chest and introduced, "Cinder Fall."

Penny recognized her name.

"Oh, wow! You're in the tournament, too! But your team chose Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black to advance to the doubles round. So, we won't see each other in the arena."

Cinder smiled as if at a child. She purred, "How did you know that?"

"That is publicly available information on the CCT network," Penny nodded.

Emerald gestured over her shoulder.

"But we just submitted our decision two minutes ago."

Penny crossed two fingers behind her back. Ciel took the signal to approach and intervene.

"Hello, Penny."

"Oh, Hello, Miss Ciel! I was just saying hello to Cinder Fall and Emerald Sustrai."

Ciel fired a closed-mouth smile at them.

Emerald scowled, "And we were asking how she knew our team's secrets."

Penny's head jerked away in distraction, to the merchant tent they were standing beside.

"Hey," she said. She pointed at Emerald.

"Hey what?" Emerald snapped back.

"You just walked over to that display case and stole that magnet."

Ciel shot a glance at Penny. Was she malfunctioning? "Ma'am. She's been standing right in front of you and..."

Penny pointed into Emerald's clenched fist, then at the blank space in the display case. Emerald looked as shocked as Ciel felt. Cinder's smile broadened.

"Good eye," she praised. Then, to Sustrai, "Emerald, I think you forgot to pay for that."

Emerald shrugged and tossed the magnet to Penny. Penny reached to catch it at the base of its arc, but as the magnet approached her body, it snapped up against her forehead. Emerald looked confused. Cinder giggled.

"Oh no," Penny realized.

She pulled her sunhat low over the magnet and began searching the grass at her feet.

"Oh gosh. I must have dropped it. Where'd it go?"

She fooled no one. The weirder part was Cinder's lack of surprise. In Cinder's smirk, Ciel saw something more than blasé amusement at the act; she saw malice. Cinder cooed, "We're done here, Emerald." They turned and strutted away.

Penny moaned, "Help me find that magnet, Miss Ciel."

Ciel tapped her shoulder. "Ma'am. They left."

Penny stopped searching. She stopped acting. Her shoulders slumped, and she sighed.

"They don't want to be my friends."

"Correct, Ma'am."

"I don't understand what I'm doing wrong, Miss Ciel."

"As the saying goes: It's not you; it's them."

Ciel watched Cinder and Emerald stroll away. Her orders tied her to Penny. Instinct told her to reconnoiter, record, and report. And instinct was screaming. She pushed her earbud. What should she say? A Woman in Red gave Penny a funny look?

"TacCom, Ciel."

"Ciel, TacCom. Go ahead, Agent."

"Person of Interest…"

She hesitated. If Penny couldn't ID her, no one could. "Person of interest. Emerald Sustrai. Haven Academy."

"POI Marked. Anything else?"

"That's all, TacCom." She released the bead and looked back to Penny.

A gust of wind lifted Penny's sunhat, revealing the magnet. Penny frantically pulled it back down. _Just another shift to get through_ , Ciel thought to herself.

Penny smiled at her. "On the bright side, Miss Ciel, that was really good teamwork!"

"Ma'am?"

"I didn't know what to say, so I signaled you. And then you came in and rescued me from an awkward situation!"

Penny beamed, "Maybe we _should_ be sisters!"

Ciel smiled, then corrected it.


	18. The Woman in Red

Cinder Fall had no aversion to the abandoned chapels and holy ruins on Remnant. She missed the old ways: mortar and brick, mortar and pestle, Maidens and Seasons. She missed her friends. Beyond the pulpit stood a full portrait of Athena Polis in stained glass, the Emblem of Mistral emblazoned across her shield. Cinder's glass heels clicked against the chapel floor as she marched to the image and admired the craftsmanship. She turned to see Emerald Sustrai admiring another image. The windows lining the pews held portraits of Athena's battle sisters. Emerald looked to Cinder, and pointed to one.

"Hey, Cinder. This one looks like you."

Cinder inspected her nails. "Really? I think the portrait beside it looks like you, Emerald."

Emerald frowned. She retracted her finger. "Oh. This is… Uh…"

She looked to Mercury. The young assassin seemed preoccupied with the rafters.

She looked to Cinder. "This place is like that graveyard."

Cinder only smiled as an answer.

Mercury Black pointed up. "Boss? I'm thinking I should wait up in the rafters and come down from above. You wait behind a pillar, and Emerald can just… You know. Do whatever."

Mercury was not the ideas guy. Cinder turned to him and scowled at the suggestion. He stopped, realizing he'd done something wrong. Emerald turned to look at him, just as confused.

Mercury asked, "That's what we're doing, right?"

Cinder hated repeating herself. "I told you," she strained, "That I think we should have a discussion with her."

Mercury's eyes danced around in thought.

"She means literally," Emerald sneered.

Mercury shrugged, then glanced through the windows, reckoning the angle of the sun.

"Well, we've got time to kill. Nikkos doesn't usually come until after her lunch."

"That's fine," Cinder smiled. "I brought a game."

When Pyrrha Nikkos arrived, she came in the traditional robes of Mistralite supplicants. Cinder had not seen those robes for a very long time. Pyrrha paused in the temple's entryway. She hadn't expected fellow worshippers, let alone desecrators. They'd pulled a folding table from the corner to the room's center. Emerald, feet on the table, sighed into her bubblegum. The loud pop and smack echoed into the atrium.

"Hey, Merc." She hadn't seen Pyrrha. She lifted her magazine above the table. "Would you say that I'm 'Approachable and sincere in my day to day life?' It's really important, I'm trying to fill out this dateability quiz."

Merc grunted, "Nope."

Cinder didn't warn them. She watched Pyrrha. The girl cut her outrage and ended her hesitation with a breathing exercise. She aligned herself to the isle, and approached in the methodical way of pilgrims, stopping every step to utter mantras. The old rituals had survived.

Emerald asked, "How about you, Cinder?"

Distracted, she mumbled, "I think you're a doll, Em."

Emerald scribbled her answer on the magazine, and set to work calculating if she was destined to marry a Schnee or a Beowolf. Merc's head snapped up, suddenly realizing Pyrrha had arrived. Barefoot, she made almost no noise on the floor. She kept her eyes dead ahead on her rites, trying not to disturb the party as much as they disturbed her.

Merc glanced to Cinder. She shook her head, for him to relax, so he did. He turned to Emerald and whispered over her shoulder, "Does it ask about kleptomania?"

She shouted, "Don't you have some shoes to smell?"

The last stroke of Emerald's pen was an overpowered flourish.

"Well, mom said I'd never amount to much," she announced. "But if we're being fair here, I lost three points for being friends with an introvert, and- Oh."

Emerald had finally realized. Pyrrha reached the pulpit and knelt. She'd brought totems with her: Her spear, shield, and circlet, crafted to resemble the ancient hero's. She laid these out on the steps, and imbued each with a shock of her aura, to set their gold inlays glowing.

Cinder stood. She held out a hand to stop her party from following. She walked to Pyrrha's side, knelt beside her, and performed the ritual in sync. They both steepled their hands, bowed until their foreheads touched the floor, and then rose with their eyes averted. They heaved a great sigh, looked up, and were free from it.

Pyrrha stopped there, though an hour of meditation was supposed to follow. She looked at Cinder incredulously.

"Are you… How do you know that ritual?"

"I was a follower of Athena's," Cinder smiled.

"Oh. I… I never thought…" Pyrrha trailed off. Her expression soured, then corrected, as she considered the past tense.

"You never thought you'd meet someone who remembered her," Cinder supplied.

Pyrrha smiled and accepted that with a nod.

"Yes. It's very rare. Actually, I didn't expect to see anyone in here at all."

"My apologies."

"No! No, it's fine. To be honest, I don't have much to meditate on right now. I just like to… Well, it might sound silly."

"It's important for us to reflect and give thanks for all that we have," Cinder said.

Pyrrha's eyes sparkled with joy and intrigue. "Yes. Exactly. My name is Pyrrha Nikkos. Team Juniper, here at Beacon Academy."

"Cinder Fall. Cumen. Haven. Would you like to join us?" Cinder motioned to the table, inviting Pyrrha to sit with them. She gestured again to a stack of cards on the table. At these, Pyrrha balked.

"Are those… ?" She leaned in closer to inspect them. "Are those made of stained glass? May I?"

"Please." Cinder handed her the Ace of Fall.

Pyrrha's eyes sparkled like the sunlit windows. Each card had a season instead of a suit, and a unique portrait for each value. Pyrrha recognized the theme immediately. "The Four Maidens?"

Cinder nodded.

"This is a game?"

Cinder nodded again. She took a seat, and admired the grace with which Pyrrha followed.

Pyrrha's eyes stayed on the cards. "Cinder, these are beautiful."

"Thank you, Pyrrha. I made them myself."

Cinder held out her hand, and Pyrrha returned it. Cinder's band had passed the time in the wild with these cards. Her shuffling revealed that familiarity. Emerald and Mercury scooted in to the table and prepared to join.

"There are four Maidens at any given time," Cinder explained, "But when a maiden dies, the powers flow to another person, changing hands in a great and eternal war."

Pyrrha stifled a chuckle. "I've never heard _that_ version of the story," she said.

Cinder kept smiling, but didn't answer. She handed the deck to Emerald, who cut and reformed it at the center of the table.

Cinder explained the rules. "The game is simple. We each begin with four cards. The cards each represent a maiden: Winter, Spring, Summer… And Fall. Each round is a season. The first season is Winter. For no reason, I will go first. On my turn, I either bet one maiden or pass."

Cinder placed a Winter Maiden card on the table. Emerald threw a Winter maiden onto the table. Mercury shrugged, "Pass." All eyes fell to Pyrrha. She looked into her hand, then carefully placed her maiden.

"Pass," Cinder cooed.

"Pass," Emerald hummed.

They waited for Pyrrha.

She said, "I don't have anymore, so I pass."

"In a draw, the last to play wins the season. You get a point."

Cinder scooted a glass token to Pyrrha. "Then everyone draws four cards, and the next season begins."

Everyone drew. Cinder looked to Emerald.

"Your season, Emerald."

"Spring. Yaaay," Emerald drawled. She threw down a Spring maiden, and play proceeded.

Cinder saw the disappointment growing in Pyrrha. She knew Pyrrha identified stimulation with challenge. This game was far too subtle. Pyrrha was so focused on the cards, she didn't know what she was playing. A few minutes later, Cinder had the lion's share of tokens, and the last card was drawn.

Mercury sat in last place. He shot a glance to Cinder and asked, "We playing Ragnarok?"

Pyrrha looked confused, so Cinder explained further.

"Usually play would end here. But for a more climactic ending, each complete set of maidens left in your hand nets you a bonus of tokens."

Mercury laid out three sets.

"You would still lose," Cinder noted.

"Yeah, but I beat Emerald."

"Ugh. We're not playing your stupid rules, Merc."

"Whatever. You're just mad you're in last."

"I still win three out of four," Emerald grumbled.

Cinder checked Pyrrha's eyes. The poor girl had just been given a hint. She didn't seem to realize it.

Pyrrha blurted, "It's a game of chance."

Cinder tilted her head to scold. "You say that like it's distasteful."

Pyrrha nodded. "Games are supposed to practice skills."

Emerald and Mercury smiled like hyenas. Cinder felt that same malicious glee creeping into her features.

"Let's play some more. You might change your mind."

Cinder dealt a new game. She'd honed her Semblance to use as little aural energy as possible. Pyrrha didn't sense as Cinder pushed the glass and sorted the cards to her whim. She didn't see as Emerald took extra cards every round. She hadn't noticed Mercury saving cards from the last game in his gloves.

Pyrrha asked, "So how's the Great City of Mistral doing?"

Play continued while Cinder described the slight changes in the year Pyrrha had been gone.

She admitted, "There is one thing that shook us."

Pyrrha looked away from the cards. "What's that?"

Cinder pouted. "You left. We haven't had a celebrity like you since… Amber? That was a long time ago. You know they're drawing comparisons about you in the tabloids, right? You're not the Invincible Girl anymore."

"Oh?"

"You're Athena," Cinder said.

Pyrrha blushed, flattered and embarrassed. "I- Well that's- I don't know. That's a bit much."

Emerald glared at the blushing, giggling mess that was Pyrrha. She snapped, "Athena _Parthenos_. They're calling you 'The _Virgin_ Athena.'"

That cut Pyrrha's blushing short. But not her embarrassment. She looked back into her cards and mumbled, "Oh."

Cinder cast a low-brow anger to Emerald. "Don't be rude."

"Sorry," Emerald huffed.

Mercury tilted his head and remembered, "Wait. Don't you have a thing with your team leader? Jaune Arc?"

Cinder kicked him under the table. He hissed, then shrugged at her, annoyed. She flared her eyes at him. If Pyrrha asked how Merc knew that, he'd be too stupid to cover.

Pyrrha pursed her lips, and nervously glanced away. "Um… Well, despite what tabloids may indulge in, that's actually private."

The last card was drawn, and Cinder won by the same margin. She watched the realization creep into Pyrrha's eyes.

"I think I was wrong," Pyrrha admitted.

"Oh?" Cinder cooed innocently.

"Well, if it's a game of chance, Emerald can't win most games. It would be equal."

"Couldn't she? Chance and equality are different things."

"I suppose so," Pyrrha admitted, "But that's… That's not very likely."

"Maybe it's her Fate," Cinder quipped.

Pyrrha giggled. "It's silly to think of a force that powerful meddling in card games though, isn't it?" Pyrrha laughed.

Emerald and Mercury laughed _at_ her, but were able to sound _with_ her. She was so very close to understanding the game they were actually playing. She just needed a hint. Cinder did not laugh. She waited for Pyrrha to resume an air of dignity, then to see the seriousness in her glare.

"We call her Luck when she behaves. When she sins, she is called Chance. And when she brings us to ruin, only then is she cursed with the title Fate."

Cinder saw the girl's irises contract. Pyrrha wasn't smiling anymore. She checked Mercury and Emerald's faces. She understood that she was being tested.

She asked, "You're in the tournament, right?"

Cinder nodded.

Pyrrha said, "This feels a little like a pre-match skirmish."

Mercury glanced to Cinder, as if asking, "Should I kill her?"

Emerald grinned. She finally found something to like in Pyrrha. Cinder licked her lips. "It's just a card game with your fellow countrymen, Pyrrha. I know my teammates can be intimidating. And rude."

Pyrrha sat up straighter and held out her hand. "I'd like to play another round."

Cinder tried to hide her smile, her hope that Pyrrha was as clever as she seemed determined. Cinder shuffled the cards, pushing them about with her hands. She felt through the deck with her semblance, detecting the suits of the cards by their weight in glass. As she did, she felt a slight tingle, as if another force had pulsed through and detected all the metal. So Mercury had guessed her semblance correctly: Pyrrha Nikkos could manipulate polarity in metals. And she could cheat.

Cinder dealt the cards.

A blonde boy stuck his head into the cathedral door and hissed, "Psssssst! Hello? Pyrrha? Oh. Hi, Pyrrha!"

"Jaune? What are you doing here?"

"You didn't answer your phone, so…"

"Can it wait?"

"Ozpin wants to see you. Now. He said no matter what you're doing."

Cinder's heart raced. Emerald and Mercury looked her way.

Pyrrha made her excuses, gathered her things, and left. The door closed.

Emerald started a slow, methodical, clap. Cinder bowed her head.

Mercury nodded his agreement with Emerald, then asked, "Alright, how'd you know?"

"It was a simple deduction," Cinder gloated.

Emerald rolled her eyes. "Merc, don't encourage her. It was obvious."

Merc held out his hands. "Not to me."

Emerald held a hand to stop Cinder. Cinder giggled and let her explain.

"Look, Merc. Imagine you're Ozpin, okay? The Fall Maiden has just been wounded, and half her soul's been stolen. What happens if the Fall Maiden dies on her hospital bed?"

Merc turned a thumb to Cinder. "We get the rest of the Fall Maidens powers."

"So how can Ozpin stop that from happening?"

Merc shrugged. "I dunno. Kill Cinder?"

"No... If Cinder and Amber die, some rando gets the powers. Think about it. How can Ozpin keep the powers under his control?" Emerald motioned him on.

Merc shrugged that he didn't know.

"He could have one of his own students steal the other half of Amber's soul. Now he's got half a Fall Maiden. She kills Cinder, and Ozpin gets a Fall Maiden who's loyal to him."

"But that would kill Amber. Amber's… On Ozpin's team. She's one of his people, right?"

Emerald laughed. "That doesn't matter to them, Merc. They're not like us. They're like your dad."

Mercury took a long moment to internalize that realization. He nodded.

He looked to Cinder. "Are there a lot of people like that?"

Cinder nodded, no longer smiling. "Too many."

"Alright. So… Why'd he choose Pyrrha?"

Emerald took three cards, and used them to illustrate. "Ozpin hand-picked three students this year. We already know Weiss Schnee can't fight. So he's not gonna make her the next Fall Maiden." She tossed a card away.

Merc watched it fly, then pointed at the others. "So it's a fifty-fifty?"

Emerald furrowed her brow at him. "Merc, if Blake Belladonna became the Fall Maiden, she'd run into the woods and start a revolution. He'd have to be stupid to give it to her." She tossed another card away.

Cinder had a correction. She slid a card to Emerald. "There were four hand-picked students, Emerald."

Mercury agreed. "Yeah, what about Ruby Rose?"

Emerald scooted it back. "She's, like, fourteen. Did she even hit puberty? He's not gonna give it to her."

Merc shrugged. "Alright. So now we know it's Pyrrha Nikkos. We should have killed her."

"No." Cinder shook her head. "We should have converted her."


	19. Der Einsame Schnee

Weiss Schnee stepped off of a shuttle and officially boarded the carrier _Eidolon_. She'd been on an airwarship before. She recognized the silhouette of the cruiser _Woglinde_ trailing alongside _Eidolon_ 's flight deck. Weiss remembered her first sight of the cruiser, and the great joy it carried. _Woglinde_ had brought Winter back from her first deployment. Now Weiss felt acutely that it was she who had to go to Winter, even when they were both in Vale.

Professor Oobleck had found video of Apple. He'd found something he didn't want to be responsible for handing to her. So he'd handed it to Winter, and directed Weiss to visit her. An ensign met her on _Eidolon'_ s deck and led her inside.

At this altitude, surrounded by the commotion of flight operations, every spoken word had an ethereal wisp to it. She didn't remember her trip or the faces of the people she passed.

She sat in a sparse recreation room, and understood that she had to wait for Winter. She didn't understand anything else. Why couldn't she make her friendships as deep and meaningful as anyone else's? Why couldn't she get Winter's attention?

She saw how Ruby cared for Zwei and poured her affection into him as if on reflex. She'd seen Blake spend days sketching her friends from the White Fang, and days more staring at those sketches. She'd listened to Yang's internal struggles about Blake.

Weiss felt no affection, no nostalgia, and no great desire for reciprocation from anyone- Anyone but Winter and Apple. The delicate apple necklace felt like a lead chain.

The door opened, and she looked up with a fake smile. She couldn't hold it. A stranger entered, wearing the uniform of the Special Retinue Service. This woman, a redhead slightly taller than Weiss, sat across from her at the table. She didn't speak. She didn't make eye contact or form any kind of greeting. Her uniform had red accents and, over the left breast, read, "Cherry."

"Excuse me," Weiss asked.

Cherry reached into her uniform pocket and handed Weiss a candy bar.

"T-thank you," Weiss stammered.

She set the candy bar on the table and asked, "Are you one of Winter's Soldiers?"

Cherry didn't answer. Her neutral-warm expression meant nothing. Cherry looked down at Weiss' necklace and stared.

The door opened again. Another SRS soldier, his nametag read Orchid, with purple accents. He stopped in the doorway and looked at Weiss.

"Hey, Cherry. Who's this?"

Cherry shrugged. Both soldiers were staring at her necklace. Weiss turned to Orchid. "Excuse me, Soldier?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you go get Specialist Winter?"

"Who are you?" the soldier shrugged.

"I'm Weiss Schnee."

"I don't know anyone named Weiss."

"I'm her _sister_ ," Weiss snapped.

Orchid shrugged. "I don't know who Weiss _is_. So telling me you're her sister doesn't help."

"No, I'm not _Weiss_ ' sister. I'm-"

"Look, whoever you are, why do you want to talk to Winter?"

"That's not your business, Soldier," Weiss hissed.

Orchid frowned. "Then Winter won't see you. Go away."

"I'm going to wait here for her," Weiss asserted.

"Hmm," Orchid nodded.

He sat with Cherry and took the candy bar from the table. The silence was awkward. Hearing him unwrap the candy bar and eat it was more awkward. Another soldier entered- A man more than double Weiss' height. Name: White, with white accents. He looked down at Weiss.

"Who's this little thing?"

Orchid answered, "She said she's Weiss' sister."

"Who's Weiss?"

"This girl's sister."

Weiss interrupted and snapped at White, "Will you help me talk to Winter?"

White shook his head. "Sorry, stranger, but we don't know who you are. I'm not even sure why they let you onboard."

A fourth soldier entered, finally someone Weiss recognized: Winter's right-hand woman. Hikari stopped in the doorway. There were now four soldiers looking at her apple charm. None of them looked happy. Despite Orchid's teasing and White's welcoming tone and Cherry's neutral-warm smile, they were all bitter-sweet at best.

Weiss held out a hand to Hikari. "You know me, right?"

Hikari nodded. "I do."

"Why are they pretending they don't know who I am?"

She gestured at everyone else. They all snickered.

Hikari explained, "We're legally prohibited from confirming or denying the familial affiliations of Specialists. It's become a really stupid joke."

"But you can take me to see Winter, Right?"

The snickering faded away.

Hikari said, "Take a hint, Weiss."

Weiss understood, and she suddenly felt like she was drowning. "Winter… Doesn't want to see me?"

Hikari shook her head. "I didn't say that. But now's a bad time."

"It's _always_ a bad time!" Weiss shouted.

Breathing was harder. "I want to see Winter!"

Hikari shrugged. "You can stay here, but you're not going to see her."

"I'm not leaving until Winter comes out to see me!"

White laughed. "She has a lot more patience than you, Kid."

Orchid added, "And she shouldn't be interrupted."

Cherry nodded her agreement.

Weiss crossed her arms, to cover the hole in her chest. "I'm not leaving," she said.

Hikari leaned against the wall. White sat on a table. Orchid finished the candy bar. Cherry's expression stayed warm and neutral. Everyone sat that way for a very long time. But the Winter Soldiers were right. Weiss didn't have their patience.

Her conviction left. Despair was all that remained of her anger. She couldn't fake a smile. She could only be the weakling her father always yelled at. A tear escaped. She didn't cry. She didn't care what anyone thought of her anymore.

"I had a cousin," she said.

She gripped Apple's charm, as if she could hold Apple's hand. The Winter Soldiers had the uncanny silence and stillness of the season. When Weiss spoke, she felt as if she was alone.

"She was living in Mountain Glenn, studying Dustronics at the Academy for Noumenometry. Her parents were killed by the White Fang. So she was going to live with us. But then the Grimm attacked. One of my Professors found Apple's Scroll. She recorded videos of the attack, and of people, and of herself. And all of the video she appears in… Professor Oobleck sent it to Winter. So I came here to watch it with her."

Weiss looked into her grip, at the charm.

"Everyone from Atlas had left. So… She didn't know anyone. The Grimm came in a swarm larger than anyone had ever seen before or since. The whole city burned. Everything was destroyed. And through all of that pain and fear, up to her last moment… She was… Alone. And I always think about why she did it. She was supposed to escape. She was on a bullhead, flying away. But then-"

"We know," Hikari interrupted. "We were there."

Hikari's breast pocket rumbled, and she pulled a scroll from it. "Orchid, White, we're summoned."

The men stood and left quickly. Hikari lingered at the door, looking at Apple's charm. She said, "Cherry. Permission to speak."

And she left.

Weiss looked across the table, at Cherry. The soldier smiled, shed a tear, and reached across the table to place a hand over Weiss'.

And she said, "She wasn't alone, Weiss. You aren't alone."


	20. Cherry

Vale's first settlers erected a beacon for the lost to join civilization. The valley gave them fertile soil and defensible terrain, rich in minerals. Generations later, south-east, they discovered Mountain Glenn, and its bountiful Dust. The vein there stretched from Remnant's core to the tips of mountains. The surveyors sent back a photograph of a man standing in the glenn, his hand against a Dust spire that dwarfed him.

The Merlot family seized that abundance and changed the world. The Schnee family's vision of a Cross Continental Transmit System became real. The military replaced its lead bullets with dust cartridges. Huntsmen crafted weapons not even imaginable in the previous age.

There was one problem. As humanity's fire grew brighter, its shadows in the outlands grew stronger. Atlas evacuated first. And Cherry, of the Special Retinue Service, responded first. Her pager wailed in her purse, and she knew without checking that her vacation was over in a big way. She didn't say goodbye to her date. She stepped out of her high-heels and ran.

The platoon at the embassy had sealed the gates. She flashed her badge and slid through. In the locker rooms, she threw a kit harness on over her sun dress and started her equipment check. The door slammed open again for Orchid, White, and Hikari. In twelve years, they would be known as The Winter Soldiers, the elite of the elite. For now, they were seasoned veterans of Atlas' Special Retinue Service.

"Some vacation," Orchid noted.

He lifted a kit with dark purple accents over his torso.

Agent Hikari snapped, "Updates?"

Cherry gestured for television. A holo-screen appeared. Lisa Lavender of Vale News Network didn't look like she was reporting the end of the world. She smiled at the camera and babbled about the weather, and a fair, and all the good reasons to visit Vale today.

"Been thinking of a vacation? Vale Transit Authority has announced free passes from Mountain Glenn to Vale for the whole weekend, in celebration of the Vytal Tournament's closing ceremony."

White asked, "Why aren't they mentioning the Grimm? Shouldn't they be evacuating?"

Cherry pulled her boots on. She saw Orchid shaking his head.

"They can't. They don't have enough time to get everyone out, so they won't announce an evacuation until their VIPs are clear."

The team hefted their rifles, ready for action.

"This is gonna be bad," Orchid guessed.

The door opened. Captain Gray entered in his infantry fatigues and officer's combat helmet.

"Agent! You're assembled?"

"We're ready, Sir," Agent Hikari nodded.

He tossed a data slate to her.

"Most of our VIPs are in the Embassy, and I have the platoon securing the exits. We're missing Apple Schnee. A huntress named Summer Rose says she has her at the base of the CCT. Hikari, Orchid, bring her back here. You have an hour until the last flight leaves."

Captain Gray turned to Cherry. "You and White are coming with me. The ambassador thinks he's still in command. I'll try to explain, but we might have to kill him."

Cherry and White shared a glance.

Captain Gray asked, "Is that a problem?"

Agent Hikari nodded. "You realize he founded our unit?"

"That was decades ago. Right now, he's the difference between getting everyone home and getting everyone dead. You worry about Apple Schnee, Agent. You two, follow me."

Hikari and Orchid sprinted to duty. Cherry and White followed Captain Gray into the embassy's hallways. Cherry didn't know much about Captain Gray. This was his first commission. He'd been at Chernobyl. But otherwise, he was fresh out of Officer School. He'd learned a sense of urgency from somewhere, and Cherry knew from experience it would serve him well.

White, at her side, was a combat buddy from selection camp. They'd struggled together for the last six years. They'd climbed Mount Blue Balls, wandered the many forests of Remnant, and levelled a whole settlement together. Their height difference was a comical aesthetic, but had never been a problem. She looked up to check his expression. He frowned down at her. White, she knew, had joined to fight Grimm. He didn't like the jobs that pitted him against people. Especially brothers in arms.

They muscled security out of their way and entered the state room. Their single file formation broke into a wedge, with the soldiers flanking Gray. He stopped in front of the desk, where Ambassador Noir Soleil stared intently at the radio. Soleil lifted a finger for silence, and Gray was patient enough to spare him a few seconds.

The man on the radio said, "This is Cyril Ian, with Vale News Network. I have some unfortunate news from the Tactical Coordinator in Mountain Glenn. Grimm on the perimeter are harrying the walls defenses. The military is asking for the streets in the outer districts to be kept clear. There is also a voluntary evacuation in effect. Please leave your belongings in your homes and lock your doors. City Police will protect your belongings. Now is an excellent time for a vacation to the big city!"

Ambassador Soleil was an old man. Cherry thought he looked a little over two-hundred. And he sounded that old.

"It's finally happening," he guessed.

"We're evacuating," Gray snapped. "We're leaving by air and flying directly to Atlas."

Soleil frowned.

"I have ordered everyone to proceed to the trains post-haste. As the radio-man says-"

Gray drew his pistol and let its shout silence the radio. Noir Soleil didn't flinch. He waited for Gray to explain.

"The wall is already breached, Sir. Once the line breaks, we'll be overrun, and Ozpin will blow the train tunnels. Lower the flag and report to the helipad."

Gray kept his revolver brandished. Ambassador Soleil smiled.

"Are you hoping that I'll offer you some excuse? It is within your power to kill me, Gray. I know you want to. Your sense of… Not morality. Morality demands action. Not Duty… _Shame_ cripples you. Ozpin, likewise, has certain inflexibilities when in the public's eye. What makes you think he can destroy the tunnels?"

Captain Gray said, "I just told him to."

Noir relented. "By air then."

"See you on the helipad, Sir." Captain Gray turned to leave.

Noir held up a hand. "Wait. The embassy has an obligation to fulfill. The Merlot family estate is near the wall. Their service to the State of Mantle places them under the protection of the Retinue. Or have we abandoned those principles? I know things have changed since my retirement."

He looked to Cherry for an answer. She thought it through. The charter of the Special Retinue Service was to serve the Crown of Mantle and protect humanity's strategic assets. That definitely included the Merlots. She glanced to White and nodded.

He said, "We can do it."

Captain Gray tipped his helmet to them, and they turned to sprint. In the garage, they found Hikari and Orchid tossing crates from the bed of an armed truck.

White shouted to them. "Where are the other vehicles?"

Hikari gestured at the empty expanse of the garage. "The platoon took everything but this junk."

Cherry and White joined in, emptying the seats. They'd need the space for their VIPs. Cherry had the smallest profile of the group. She mounted the gun on the bed and started her functions check. Orchid hopped into the bed with her. White turned the keys, and the engine rumbled to life like a purring great cat.

Everyone perked up at the sound. Hikari turned to look at the engine.

"This a Diesel?"

Orchid nodded. "Yeah. Warthogs run on diesel."

"Warthog?"

White revved the engine. "Sounds more like a Puma."

He changed gear, and the Puma leaped out the garage ramp and onto the boulevard.

Their assignment to Mountain Glenn was supposed to be a break after Furburg- a baby-sitting assignment in paradise. Moving-in day was awesome. Their daily runs took them past hectares of grass marked for construction. They'd all climbed Bald Mountain twice. It towered over the plains and stuck out at double the height of the other peaks. The whole place was surreal in its beauty. But now, driving full speed down an empty highway, the place was eerie. Traffic in the opposite direction stood still, with people abandoning their cars to run. That desperate mob stretched to the horizon.

Cherry felt the wind flapping at her dress and tearing at her cheeks like gunpowder. She touched the sting on her skin and felt premature nostalgia. The powder and slug rifle on her back was days away from replacement. She'd already tested the new dust-powered laser rifles. She hated them.

Orchid spoke her mind. "I just realized, this is the last time we'll get to use gunpowder rifles."

He glanced up to Cherry. She nodded.

White called, "Brace! I'm swerving!"

They whipped past a line of concrete barricades, where militiamen braced their rifles in the slats like a phalanx of spearmen.

Hikari gestured at them. "That was Captain Scarlatina, Vale third Cav. Where's their armor?"

White shrugged. "They weren't on alert. It's probably packed up in the depot. Here's our exit."

The Puma swerved off the highway and down a tunnel. For thirty seconds, they drove through dim lighting and close quarters. Then the tunnel opened, and they were in the undercity.

The expanses of easy dust had become the city's second half. Everyone lived above ground and worked below. The off ramp curved to the CCT subnode's first basement floor, a nexus of highways and footpaths to each of the colossal cavern's levels.

"No Grimm," Orchid noted.

Hikari turned in her seat, elbow up on the headrest. "Give it an hour. Everyone remember, your only objective is the VIPs. We didn't make it through Furburg to choke on a hairball here."

She took a long look at Cherry, at her dress, and smiled. She glanced to White's cargo shorts and Orchid's tropical themed button-down shirt.

"You guys look ridiculous," she laughed.

Orchid shook his head. "Normal people have a civilian wardrobe, Hikari."

She gestured to Cherry. "Don't civilians wear pants?"

"She was on a date," White defended.

"So much for that," Orchid lamented.

Hikari held up a hand. "Hang on now. Ebon Merlot's rich and hot. Maybe he'll be grateful Cherry rescued him."

Orchid frowned. "Sadly, no. He's after Raven Branwen. And she's a Huntress."

White glanced into his rearview. "Cherry's in luck. Branwen shot him down already."

"Really?"

Hikari nodded. "Yesterday."

Cherry cleared her throat into her mic. Hikari sighed. Then she nodded. And said, already regretting it, "Alright, Cherry. Permission to speak."

Cherry spouted, "I could get Ebon pregnant and you'd be clear to go for Branwen."

Orchid squinted.

White shuddered in his seat and shouted. "God damnit, Hikari! This is why we don't let her talk!"

"Yeah, yeah," Cherry dismissed, "Hikari, seriously, Branwen's available. Think about it."

Hikari adjusted her harness. "Uh… Qrow Branwen's really not my type," she said.

Everyone laughed. Orchid managed to say, "No shit! She meant Raven!"

Hikari shook her head and smiled. "How'd I blow it?"

"Receptionist at the embassy's into you," White said. "And she read you when you walked in."

"Great. Thanks for telling me, guys," Hikari groaned.

White pulled them into the parking lot and skidded to a stop. Orchid hopped out. Hikari checked her watch. "Grab the Merlots and meet us back here in thirty. Stay on mission."

White and Cherry nodded. Hikari jumped out and bolted to the tower.

White made the tires squeal as he raced to the onramp.

In the tunnel, just as the radios began to crackle and spit from distance, Hikari whispered, "Soft contact. Play it safe."

The Puma soared as it cleared the surface, then bounced on its suspension. And their radio contact ended. A nevermore glided in the distance. The wind turned shrill and sour. The road climbed into hills and trees. The grassy plains turned to sparser, pebbled dirt.

Cherry looked down to her battle buddy. "White?"

White aligned to the road paint and then glanced at her in his rear-view. "Yeah, Cherry?"

"They said you climb Blue Balls by finding out who you are. That was twenty years ago. Still got no idea."

White shrugged. "We've got, like, two-hundred years to figure that out."

Cherry shook her head. "Eighty. All the 'roids and dust infusions they gave me reduce lifespan."

White cast her a sympathetic glance.

Cherry looked into the forest, to the ground. The pebbles trembled.

She said, "Days like these, I think we've got hours."

They zoomed past a road sign, and White gently swerved at his exit.

Cherry asked, "How do you deal with it?"

White cringed in the mirror. "I don't."

The trees broke. Cherry saw the mansion. She called, "Broken window on the third floor! Evade! Evade!"

White zigzagged off of the road and hopped a small hill over the aesthetic wall. They skidded to a halt in the driveway without contact and sprinted through a side door, weapons up.

They found the first bodies in the kitchen, where the staff lay in flour and blood. The haphazard wounds meant someone had poorly sprayed the room with a pistol. That someone hadn't had the decency to tap their heads. Cherry saw the Dust effects on the tile walls and signaled to White: PISTOL. AURA PIERCING.

The next bodies lay in the foyer. Ebon Merlot sat faceless in the entryway beside his two nieces. Their charred corpses fused together in the corner they'd huddled in. Countess Merlot looked alive, though barely, sitting in her chair after two-hundred years of living. She had the look of an ancient tree that had been stabbed in the heart. The knife, and nothing else, was a giveaway.

White placed a hand to the Countess' forehead and mouthed, "Warm."

The four most famous brothers on Remnant lay dead against the dining room table. In life, they'd been called The Four Season of Industry. Cherry lifted one's head to see the foam at his mouth. They each had an empty glass. And in the table's center was a decanter. Poisoned wine.

Cherry cleared the parlor, and saw out the windows that the dogs were all at their chain's end, their corpses piled together.

She met White at the stairs, and they both signaled clear.

Through the open door, a raven soared into the room and perched on the bust of Pallas Athena.

Cherry kept her attention up the stairs, but signed to White: SITREP?

White signed: ONE-FAUNUS-PISTOL.

Cherry shook her head and pantomimed shooting someone execution style, and then herself. White shrugged that he wasn't sure. They heard a round expended upstairs, and a body hit the floor. A young girl screamed, and her footsteps passed over them. A man followed, bellowing, "It's better this way, Fola!"

"No! No!"

Cherry and White sprinted up the stairs. The man screamed, "Fola! You are too young to understand! At least grant me that you will die with dignity!"

They found him in the hallway, the eminent Doctor Merlot, trying to kick down his granddaughter's door. He shot at the lock, but his undisciplined aim only put holes in the wood and emptied his magazine. The slide on his pistol clicked back, empty, and Cherry lowered her rifle to charge and tackle him.

"NO!" he screamed, "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

Cherry put him down with a swift ball tap and a stomp to his jaw. She kicked the door open. The next moment was governed by reflexes. Cherry had a gun in her face. She reached out and jammed the slide with one hand. With the other, she bopped Fola Merlot's cute little nose. Fola was a scared child, but she'd chosen to not play victim. A copy of Crusade sat open on the nightstand, hollowed out. Cherry tossed the weapon aside and forced Fola to the ground. She cuffed her. They made quick work dragging the Merlots to the Puma.

Cherry strapped Dr. Merlot into the cargo belts on the Puma's bed. White secured Fola's seatbelt. It was as he started the engine that Cherry heard motion in the dog yard. She looked at the piled corpses, just in her line of sight.

She called, "Motion! North yard of the house!"

White turned to look. He turned back to Fola. "Sweetie? You have any family still alive?"

Her eyes teared up. The shock had abated, and the reality made her sob. White shouted back, "Not Friendly!"

Cherry hopped on the truck bed and brought the gun around. White called, "Brace!" and the Puma crashed through the mansion gates.

The pile of dog corpses dissolved, flesh slithering flat or burning away. And where they had lain was now a shadow, roused by the cacophony. Red eyes and pearlescent bones pointed at Cherry, and she felt the dread attention of the Grimm. A great void reached out and touched her soul. The damned turned their sullen whispers to her ears.

She called, "Boarbatusk! Go! GO!" And answered those whispers with Bone Piercing Incendiary .30 at ten rounds per second. They swerved onto the highway, but the monster had closed distance. It swiped at the wheel just as they accelerated away.

No real creature could keep up with a car. But Grimm cared for physics like they cared for municipal codes. The shadow rolled onto its face, and the bone carapace along its curled body acted as a wheel, turning as if the god of death had decided to drive them down. White swerved to let it pass and crash into the highway's walls. The boarbatusk unraveled, and Cherry sent a burst of ammunition at its exposed belly. The rounds deflected. She'd seen that before, but… Only on a huntsman. She knew she could have seen it wrong. The rounds could have hit asphalt.

White asked, "Did you get it?"

"It's still up!"

"It won't work!" Fola wailed.

"Cherry! Left! High!"

She spun the gun around and spotted a young Nevermore, only the size of a man, diving into a high-G turn to try and swoop her with its claws. She spent a heartbeat leading the shot and unleashed the cannon. The rounds deflected again, and she saw how the sunlight played off of an aura around the Grimm.

"Shit! Evade!"

"Damnit, Cherry! I can't do this!"

White slammed his breaks, and the Nevermore swooped ahead of them. He spun around to dodge the boarbatusk, and pulled a full doughnut to keep on the right way.

"That won't keep working, Cherry! You've gotta hit it!"

"I did! No effect!"

"Fucking what?"

The nevermore pulled an impossibly sharp turn and accelerated toward her. Five sets of talons emerged from its chest. Cherry dove to her back and drew her sidearm, the Retinue's "Last-Resort" Revolver. She screamed and fanned six rounds of .45 Aura Piercing at her deepest fear. It puffed like smoke struck by a bellows. Its bones scattered around her, their red-spiral inlays glowing, then igniting and burning out of existence before they'd finished bouncing.

The boarbatusk made a third lunge, but White swerved down into the undercity. A Grimm that young wouldn't be clever enough to follow them. Cherry stayed down on the bed, panting and reloading. On a second thought, she radioed, "I'm alive."

"Same," White chuckled.

They broke from the tunnel into the depths of hell. The echoes of gunfire and screaming filled their ears. The radio crackled, and White seized on that opportunity.

"Hikari! We're on our way back! You need a ride?"

"Yeah! Switch to your side-arms and come in hot! Repeat, Aura-Piercing! Use Aura-Piercing!"

The ramp turned down, and the Puma's suspension made it jump, as if from rock to rock down a cliff.

White skidded into the parking lot, and Orchid climbed into the bed, carrying another kid.

Hikari stood farther away, surrounded by Beowolves. Old Beowolves; Cherry had never seen so many bones on a Grimm. And that meant smart Beowolves.

If Hikari pulled the trigger, they'd realize she couldn't hurt them. One lunged forward, but it had learned caution in its decades. Hikari turned to face it, keeping Apple between her shoulder blades. The monster hesitated and retreated.

Apple's marble dress sparkled even in the parking lot's fluorescent lights, catching the light as her skirt twirled, and the SDC logo on her vest had a green sheen that flared as she moved.

Hikari shouted, "Now! Go! Run!"

Apple ran and jumped into the truck bed. Hikari backpedaled her butt onto the tail, and the Beowolves fanned out under the attention of all four soldiers. White revved them back onto the highway, and the pack split up to find easier prey. Apple's hyperventilating was audible over the warthog.

Hikari sighed her adrenaline free. Cherry scooted beside her, so they were dangling their legs together over the road. Hikari turned to her and asked, "Casualties?"

Cherry nodded. "The Merlots had a mass suicide. We rescued two. White and I are fine."

Hikari pulled a Scroll from her kit and announced, "Barometer's bottomed out. Takes a lot of Grimm to do that. Expect weather. Oh, and White?"

"Yeah?"

"We have twenty minutes."

"Pedal's all the way down," he nodded.

The Puma cleared the tunnel, and they saw the sky again, now overcast. Darkness pooled in the clouds. In the distance, Cherry saw smoke rising, and Nevermores circling. Hundreds. She turned to look at Orchid and his rescue, another girl Apple's age.

She asked, "Who's that?"

Orchid panted, "Ciel Soleil. She's the ambassador's daughter."

Hikari turned into the conversation and snapped, "He didn't mention a daughter."

Orchid shrugged.

Hikari looked to Cherry. They both shrugged. They turned back to the road, and watched it trail out from under them. This was the best part of the nightmares.

Hikari nudged Cherry's arm and offered, "Sorry about Ebon."

The loss did hurt. It was a joke, but there was a twinge of reality to her fantasy of marrying him. He'd been an icon of the few safe places on Remnant. Now she had a lifetime of warfare ahead of her. There would be no respite in the next eighty years. It was a scary thought, the kind Grimm presence causes, she realized. She didn't want to feel it. She didn't want to imagine Ebon's mangled features.

"Yeah, well," Cherry finally mumbled, "He's kind of a stiff, anyway."

Hikari laughed.

Cherry continued, "And now that his face is all messed up, I dunno'. The attraction's gone."

"Gotta find you a livelier guy," Hikari offered.

"They have auras," Apple said.

Hikari and Cherry turned to look at her. In desperation, she repeated it.

"They have auras!"

Over the headsets, White crackled, "She's got a point."

Cherry looked to Hikari. She saw that her friend was scared.

"You too, huh?" Cherry whispered.

Hikari nodded. A bolt of lightning lit her face. Then thunder cackled across the sky, and a sprinkle of rain began. Fell winds competed with her voice on the radio.

"I saw Rocket artillery hit that Goliath. It should have been annihilated."

She swallowed. "We have to get on that bullhead."

The Puma swerved onto side streets. They skidded to a stop out front of the embassy. Two guards remained on the perimeter, shivering in the unnatural gusts of ice-wind. Their bullhead idled on the rooftop. Cherry pushed the three little girls inside first. Upstairs, Fola, Apple, and Ciel were first on the tilt-jet. Captain Gray had waited on the helipad. Rain soaked his uniform and dripped from his helmet. White flopped Dr. Merlot's body into the aircraft. Cherry stood guard beside Captain Gray.

He leaned into her ear and shouted to be heard over the engines and wind.

"That's all the Merlots?"

She couldn't find the words for it. She nodded. He read it in her expression. He looked out to the horizon.

"Apple's the only one we need," he admitted.

He seemed stuck, staring at the darkness creeping from the East.

"I'm glad I don't live in Vale," he said.

And he turned with Cherry to sit in the bullhead's side door. The tilt-jets screamed. The craft lifted.

Cherry motioned Gray closer.

She shouted into his ear. "The goliath has an aura!"

"What?"

The engines were too loud, or he didn't believe her. She made hand signals.

"HUNTSMAN-GRIMM-AURA."

She watched his squint fade to disbelief, then understanding.

She shouted, "Alert Vale! Collapse the tunnels!"

"They Did!"

She signaled: "GOLIATH. TOPSIDE. WALL. NEGATVIE."

Captain Gray shrugged. "There's nothing any of us can do! Vale's done for!"

The engines waned off as he shouted the last line. He checked his shoulder, to see who'd heard. Everyone.

Gray shook his head and looked out to the distance again. As they rose to the cloud layer, the vanguard of the Grimm came into perspective. The whole of the suburbs was overrun. They tore at every structure, muzzles uprooting gardens, disassembling people and their things in a frenzy of annihilation. The peripheries of the swarm were tearing at the embassy gates.

Gray pointed. "Close call." He wiped rain from his face.

Cherry nodded her agreement. She'd been advised in selection camp that tragedy and comedy were two faces of the same coin. She had a quip ready, something really dark. But she never told her joke. Apple Schnee stepped between her and Captain Gray. And then she jumped.

Grey shouted, "NO!" and tried to grab her. His hand caught on her necklace, a silver chain. She dangled from his grip for a few seconds.

She'd been shell shocked before. Now her eyes brimmed with sapience. She put a hand on his and said, "It's going to be okay."

The chain snapped under her weight, and she tumbled away from the craft. They lost sight of her as they lifted into the clouds. Gray stared at the chain in his fist. Blood trickled from his grip and dripped from the silver. He uncurled his fingers to reveal the charm on the end, a small apple emblazoned with a snowflake. The curved edge had sliced his palm.

He looked at Cherry.

"Fuck!" she screamed.

Cherry pushed her way to the front of the bullhead and grabbed the pilot.

"Go back! Down! Down! We have to go back!"

The bug eyed helmet shook its head and pointed. There, she saw something worse than the dead Merlot girls, or their Uncle's mangled face, or the pile of dogs in their yard.

What they had seen on the ground was a mass of Grimm greater than any army. What she saw above the clouds was a monster of impossible size. The whole airborne horde of the Grimm swarm stretched over the curvature of Remnant. And this beast's wings covered that swarm. As it moved, it eclipsed the sun, as if the last of the gods had finally closed His eyes and turned away.


	21. Rogue

Hikari entered Data Analysis HQ and stopped just inside the doorway. The carrier _Eidolon_ 's electronics and communications suite all routed through this dark room, where analysts in stadium seating pieced through everything they knew about everything. Right now, every one of those analysts answered to Specialist Winter. She stood at the stadium's head, looking down over her underling's shoulders and onto the main screen.

The video there had a timestamp from a few months ago. Some girl in a black and red combat skirt turned away from the camera and waved, "Take care, friend!"

The video repeated every two seconds. It had all of Winter's attention. She didn't acknowledge Noir Soleil at her right, nor react to Agent Hikari when she stopped at Winter's left.

Hikari leaned to her and whispered, "Weiss refused to leave. Cherry's keeping her company."

Winter didn't answer that. Hikari nodded hello to Soleil. A lot of people wished he would die, but feared him too much to act. Hikari had only very recently met someone she trusted enough to speak about him with. She'd only warned Winter that he was evil. Winter hadn't passed any judgment verbally, but Hikari knew the Schnees never publicly acknowledged their long list of enemies.

The girl on screen and her high-pitched voice finally grew on Hikari's nerves. She asked, "Who is that?"

Winter hummed, "Ruby Rose."

"And why are we watching this?"

"Because Penny sent it. According to the metadata, Ruby is tied to everything."

"The Woman in Red?"

Winter corrected, "Literally. Everything."

Hikari remembered the cape they found in Mountain Glenn. "Ruby Rose. Relation to Summer Rose?"

"Yes. But also… She's Weiss' teammate at Beacon. This has become very complicated."

Winter's "this" could have meant a lot of things. Hikari nodded very slightly in Noir Soleil's direction. Winter shook her head, just as imperceptibly.

At their side, Noir had ideas of his own. He kept his eyes on the screen, but turned his chin to them, to ask, "She looks young and local. Signal Academy?"

Winter corrected, "Beacon. Professor Ozpin advanced her two years because of exceptional combat ability. She's had special attention from one of Signal's instructors, Qrow Branwen."

"You seem to already know her," Soleil noted.

"Tangentially," Winter admitted.

Hikari gestured at the repeating video and Ruby's perky voice. "Can we mute that?"

The analyst nearest her did so, and then slowed the footage to seconds per frame. They watched Ruby turn away in stop motion. There wasn't any sense to draw from it.

Noir asked, "So how does this fourteen year old girl connect to Mountain Glenn?"

Hikari noted the detail, and saw that Winter caught it as well.

"That's a suspiciously accurate guess," Winter prodded.

Noir answered, "I make it a point to keep track of the state's enemies. Shadowcat is on team RWBY."

Hikari hummed, "I guess we were the last people to find out."

Noir held out his hand, palm up. "I'm new to this investigation, Winter. I've yet to learn how Team RWBY connects to the Woman in Red or her activities in Mountain Glenn."

Winter answered, "Team RWBY entered Mountain Glenn with Professor Bartholomew Oobleck. They encountered the White Fang and failed to stop the train attack."

Noir turned an incredulous look to Winter. "You are assuming their intentions, Specialist."

Winter retracted from that, then took an offensive step toward him. "To believe that team RWBY participated in the attack, you have to assume that Weiss Schnee has become a White Fang radical."

"To believe they opposed it, you have to assume that Shadowcat _stopped_ being a White Fang radical."

He gestured to the screen, where analysts were throwing new information. "And look, team RWBY was involved with the White Fang's Dust thefts throughout Vale. They were at the docks with Penny, fighting Torchwick. There they are at Tukson's book trade, the day after the White Fang murdered him. There's Ruby Rose, in the CCT control room on the night of the break in. And look there. They…"

Noir Soleil stepped forward on his cane, shocked. "Doctor Merlot is alive?"

Another article followed, "Merlot dead," and Noir shrugged, "Oh."

Hikari skimmed the story and realized in her gut that Winter would be furious. Weiss had explicitly said that team RWBY only visited Mountain Glenn once. But according to this information, sourced from Beacon Intelligence, team RWBY had returned on a treasure hunting expedition, gotten lost, and resurfaced a few days later off the coast. Hikari checked Winter's face. Ever so slightly, she'd sucked her cheeks in.

Noir seemed to finish reading. He frowned. "So team RWBY has been to Mountain Glenn, and has met Dr. Merlot. And upon returning, Ruby surely told the tale to Penny. The last time they spoke was yesterday, when Agent Ciel lost control of her. And Penny made these connections and sent us this two second video of Ruby Rose, believing that it explains everything."

They watched in very slow motion, inspecting every frame, for minutes on end, as two seconds of Ruby waving elapsed.

Noir sighed, "Penny overestimates our cleverness."

Hikari saw the contraction in Winter's pupils. She'd taken that as a challenge.

She murmured, "Ruby Rose… Was not supposed to be in Mountain Glenn. The first time, I mean. Professor Oobleck told us that she took her team there and very adventurously disobeyed his orders, which lead her to discover the White Fang operation and their train. It follows that their interest in Mountain Glenn was separate from the school's assignments."

Hikari liked Winter's eureka looks. Her head snapped up, and her eyes sparkled as her irises shifted. She realized, "They've been pursuing Roman Torchwick. Why?"

Hikari thought it was obvious. She blurted, "Because he's leading the White Fang now, and Shadowcat doesn't like that."

Noir shook his head. "Then why did they go back to Mountain Glenn and look for Dr. Merlot?"

A second eureka look from Winter. And she laughed. Hikari hadn't heard that noise before. It was surprising and pleasant. And Winter suddenly looked like the softest, most endearing person she'd ever seen.

Winter said, "Ruby Rose is leading her own investigation into the Woman in Red! First she tracked Roman Torchwick, who we now have in custody, and who we know is connected. Then she went after Doctor Merlot, who we know is connected. Ruby Rose is pursuing the same case we are. But that raises the question… How does Ruby know about the Woman in Red?"

An analyst gestured another video onto the screen. And there they saw Ruby Rose in a police station, dated to the previous year. Everyone quieted. On the screen, Ruby shifted her weight in a folding chair. Across the table sat Professor Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon.

Glynda said to Ruby, "Please speak clearly into the camera and tell your story from the beginning, Miss Rose."

Ruby fidgeted like a typical fourteen-year-old, glanced at the table, and said, "I was told there would be cookies."

"There will be," Glynda nodded.

Ruby purred "Yussss," under her breath.

"Your story, Miss Rose."

"Okay, so I was in From Dust Till Dawn, because they have this awesome comic book section at the back. And I was listening to music with my headphones on, so I didn't notice anything until this guy tapped me on the shoulder."

Hikari had spent twenty hours that week reading fairy tales because of Doctor Oobleck's cryptic clues about the Four Maidens. A detail about Ruby had just struck a chord with those ancient myths. Ruby continued. "So I asked him, 'are you robbing me?' And he said, 'yeah.' So I was like 'Hiiiiiiya! Whapow! Tchya! Tchya! And they had dust-tipped hatchets, so I was kinda worried, but they weren't even huntsmen, so it was a piece of cake. But then their leader was this guy with a bowler hat and a cane that shot roman candles. And he was like-"

Hikari leaned in to Winter and whispered, "I think I see what Penny sees."

Winter glanced to Noir, to make sure his attention was on the screen. Noir seemed a mixture of perplexed and annoyed. She whispered back, "Later."

Ruby continued, "So then this bullhead pulled up alongside the building. And he jumped into it, but then you showed up and you were SOOOOOO COOOOOOL! I thought you were gonna blow them out of the sky, but then that woman in red was standing in the bullhead going POW POW POW out of nowhere and-"

"-What did you say?" Glynda snapped.

"What did she say?" Winter realized.

"I thought you were gonna blow them out of the sky, but… The Woman in Red…"

Glynda and Winter wore the same expression.

"Thank you," Glynda said. She stood from the table and paced behind Ruby. "I hope you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, Young Lady."

Glynda gestured her wand at the camera, ending the recording.

Noir Soleil blurted, "Ruby Rose has silver eyes."

Winter and Hikari both looked at him incredulously. They'd spent weeks accepting that the supernatural was at play. Soleil had instantly connected her with mythology. Hikari couldn't believe that Soleil had jumped straight to it.

Noir saw them watching him. He shrugged. "It's very unusual."

"Very," Winter acknowledged, "But we should focus on the case."

Noir nodded, "Fair enough."

Hikari tried not to show her relief. She didn't like that her life had intersected Noir Soleil's again. She wanted him far away from her work and her knowledge. That Ironwood had brought him in could only mean he had agenda. And his agendas were fatal to cross. Or perhaps this was his last bout of blood lust before old age subdued him.

Noir turned to the screen and said, "Let's review Shadowcat and her involvement in all this."

Hikari didn't see it. She shrugged. "Shadowcat's on team RWBY. Maybe she's just along for the ride."

Noir turned to face her. He hadn't given her a look like that since Furburg. The look meant, "You've inherited a real mess, kid."

Out loud, he said, "I'll assume you've read _Crusade_ by now."

Hikari nodded. Noir pulled his scroll from his pocket and flicked it open.

He asked, "Have you ever read _Third Crusade_?"

"No."

Hikari held out her hand. Noir gestured the data from his scroll. She caught the glowing ball and pushed it into her own.

"When you get the chance," Noir sighed. "A faunus reactionary's interpretation of _Crusade_ and how we've strayed from it. In _Crusade_ the gods told us not to build cities. The author of _Third Crusade_ recognizes that cities were built so that the few could centralize power over the many. Our rulers traded our survival for their personal luxury. Of course, the author see it as a conflict between humanity and faunus. The point remains. On principal, if destroying a city costs a faunus their life, they have died for the legacy of the gods. Do not assume Shadowcat is passive."

Hikari nodded that she understood, then shook her head.

"I don't think she's still a radical. All of our intel says she ran away from Taurus' White Fang."

But Hikari didn't have Winter's support there.

The Specialist scowled. "Both of her parents were White Fang. Her father died at Chernobyl, and you know what happened to her mother. Then she joined the White Fang under Adam Taurus, murdered two soldiers, and- need I remind you- knocked over a Schnee company train only two years ago. Ozpin is the only reason she isn't in a _cage_."

Hikari didn't need reminding. She'd lost two friends on that train.

Noir nodded his agreement. "As I understand it, the specialist tracking Shadowcat was misled by a tip from Beacon Intelligence. Ozpin took advantage of our trust to enroll her as a student. The treaty protects her now. And when she graduates, all of her crimes will be pardoned."

Hikari knife-handed her disagreement. "That tells us that Ozpin trusts her. And I'll remind you two that team RWBY just shut down most of the White Fang's operations in Vale. Either the rest of them are genius investigators, or Shadowcat was helping them."

Noir turned to them, and slowly but forcefully walked into their personal space, to whisper so only the three of them could hear.

They each received a severe glance. And then he addressed a memory hovering somewhere between them all. "Let me make this very clear to you. After what I did to Shadowcat at chernobyl, she can never have a normal relationship in her life. She will never trust anyone. She will never _be_ anything but an enemy to humanity. I should have killed her. I didn't. And now she is a problem that we have to deal with."

Hikari didn't give him the pleasure of a reaction.

But Winter nodded her agreement. "Shadowcat's recent actions in Vale prove nothing. She was only dismantling Roman Torchwick's control over the Fang. He's human. Now that Torchwick is in our custody, her raids have stopped. But we know there are at least a thousand recruits in Vale. So her links to the White Fang are very real, and she could still be working with the Woman in Red to destroy the city."

Winter turned to Hikari and ordered, "We're taking her in. With your leave, Mr. Soleil."

Noir nodded and returned to the main screen. Winter guided Hikari out of the room.

Hikari held her tongue and fumed. But she saw that Winter was walking them to a conference room. So she would have a chance to speak her mind. Winter took a seat at the head of the oval table, crossed her legs, and then gave Hikari her full attention.

Hikari blurted, "A friendly is going to die if we waste time. Moving on Shadowcat doesn't advance our mission."

"A friendly?"

"Amber."

Winter shrugged. "We've never heard of her. We have all the time in the world."

"I think you're letting grudges make decisions for you."

"Maybe. But it's already in motion, Hikari. The leader of the shadow pact was captured last week. I had him released on the agreement that he recruits Blake Belladonna and kills Noir Soleil. The Shadow Pact will strike at Mr. Soleil tomorrow night. We will arrive too late to save him, but just in time to neutralize them."

Hikari blinked over the information. She gaped, "You had Umbra in custody? You want to- WHY?!"

"Killing Noir Soleil was your idea, Hikari. You said he was evil."

"I didn't say _we_ should kill him!"

"We won't. Shadowcat will. And then we will arrest her."

"This is entrapment!"

"It's warfare," Winter snapped.

Hikari bared her teeth. "Our mission is to identify and neutralize the Woman in Red! Killing Soleil and capturing Shadowcat is completely unrelated! You're doing this because of Weiss!"

Hikari had never gotten a reaction from Winter before. The specialist swallowed. Her cheeks sucked in further. Her pupils contracted and she re-crossed her legs.

"This has nothing to do with-"

"You don't like that Shadowcat and Weiss are on the same team! That's all this is about! You're risking our lives to advance your family's agenda! This is typical SDC Bullshit!"

She'd let too loose. Hikari paused to calm her breathing.

She asked, "Back there you said we'd be questioning Shadowcat. What ever happened to that?"

"Is that your objection, Hikari? Fine. We'll take her alive."

Winter looked like she wanted a contest of egos. Hikari wanted a contest of reason. She frowned and held her arms out.

"We can't do this without casualties, Winter. If you want to take on a team of huntsmen, we'll lose people. Statistically, at least three. And I don't think we have a chance of catching the Woman in Red in time if we lose more than two. Do me a favor. Make a list of who you aren't willing to lose."

Winter said, "I'm not willing to lose Weiss."

That was the admission Hikari was seeking. She nodded. "Okay. And after you violate the Vytal Compact, light up downtown Vale, and kill a student from Beacon, what are you going to tell General Ironwood?"

She hoped this would dissuade the Specialist. Winter had an intense respect for Ironwood that usually made her reflect on things. But something about Vale had unsettled Winter. When Weiss had surprised her at customs, she'd slapped her younger sister as a greeting. Then she'd assaulted her ex, Qrow Branwen, in Beacon's courtyard. Now she wanted to go faunus hunting. If the thought of Ironwood couldn't reel her in, she was a single action away from going rogue. Hikari hoped it wouldn't come to that. She hoped they had enough of a relationship that Winter wouldn't push it that far.

The specialist understood how close she was to losing all authority. She took a very long time to think. Finally, she said, "If Blake Belladonna refuses to kill Noir Soleil, we do nothing. I'll tell Ironwood that she isn't a suspect in the case, and she isn't White Fang. But if she _does_ … Then she _is_."


	22. Cobalt

Two Atlas marines, Steele and Cobalt, stepped onto _Eidolon's_ deck and returned an ensign's salute. Cobalt introduced them, shouting over the high winds and ship thrusters.

"He's Lance Corpral Steel and I'm PfC Cobalt. We're here to see the Fleet Commander."

The ensign, a young girl with heterochromia, nodded and guided them inside. Cobalt had never had occasion to discover his fear of heights. This was his first visit to an airwarship. He breathed relief inside the superstructure. But he didn't slouch, for fear of rumpling his uniform.

That morning, Cobalt and Steele had spent two hours helping each other prepare their dress whites. Their Atlas uniforms were the very image of precision and perfection, though their medal stacks were almost barren.

They had a unit citation for escorting the paladins across the world, a mariner's proficiency badge for sitting on a boat for half of that journey, and combat service medals for getting shot at in the forest. Cobalt had an additional star on his lapel for curling into a ball and holding still while Hikari saved his life.

The star was a combat bravery citation. He was obligated by his dress whites to wear it. They stepped into Fleet Commander Gray's office.

Rumor put General Ironwood in this part of Remnant, but he'd been appointed StratCom Chief by the Council of Vale. Fleet Commander Gray had assumed the role of Actual for First Expeditionary while The General was busy.

Gray was a far more intimidating man. Steele and Cobalt stopped at his desk to salute, and Commander Gray returned it half-heartedly with a sigh. "Gentlemen. Have a seat."

Two chairs had been laid out for them. Steele and Cobalt took care not to crease their uniforms as they sat.

Commander Gray had a full desk: two dossiers, a message on the letterhead of the Special Retinue Service, and another letter sealed by the insignia of the Force Specialist Division. He looked these over like his table was crawling with bugs.

"You've applied for a transfer to the Special Retinue Service," he finally grumbled.

He looked to the marines for confirmation.

Steele nodded. "Yes, Sir."

"Usually, I would have thrown that application in the trash, and we would never speak of it again. But I also keep hearing stories about my marines spending all of their spare time on extracurricular training. That, and I recognized your name."

He pointed at Cobalt. "I worked with your father, Cobalt. At Chernobyl. Before Shadowcat killed him. Is that what this is about?"

He waited. Cobalt leaned in to answer, "No, Sir. They were in mutual combat. Avenging that would just create a cycle of meaningless warfare."

Gray nodded his approval.

Cobalt added, "And if I understand correctly, he had it coming."

Gray stopped nodding. "It's not my place to judge. Right. Where were we? Extracurricular training. I see that most of your division is now participating in the exercises that you two are organizing."

"Yes, Sir," Steele nodded.

Gray turned his palms up to ask, "So if it isn't revenge… What made you two do this?"

The marines saw a long scar along his right palm. They looked away from that, to each other, then back to Gray.

"Well, Sir," Steele hesitated.

Cobalt finished, "We met someone from the Special Retinue Service. On our way here, when we were escorting the paladins."

Gray pushed their dossiers aside and brought the SRS letter to the center of his desk.

"One of Winter's Soldiers," he said. "Hikari."

They'd been inspired. It was in the midst of combat, surrounded by faunus and bullets. Her calm and focus had become their life goals. The exact moment for Cobalt was when he advanced too far. He curled up behind a two-foot wide tree. Loud snaps kicked bark off of the trunk and spat dust around his feet. Steele and Hikari were in better cover ten-meters away. He had never felt more alone.

Hikari's voice calmed him down.

"Cobalt! His name's Cobalt, right? Cobalt, I need you to call it. Where are they? No, don't look. Stay behind the tree. Did you see where they shot you from?"

"They're in a foxhole!"

"Where?"

"There's a ficus. They're under the ficus!"

"Direction and Distance, Soldier!"

Cobalt tried to keep his breathing steady and his elbows tight while he checked his compass.

"Two-two-Null. Twenty meters."

"Atta boy. Steele, how's your math?"

"Isn't the Huntress gonna help us?"

Steele pointed to Winter, her bored form idling atop the pale horse.

"Yeah, she'll jump in if she needs to. Okay. Cobalt is ten meters off our One-Six-Null. They're twenty meters off his two-two-null. Do the math and put red smoke on them. We'll reposition and force them to surrender."

"Wh- But..."

"Hurry, Steele! They're gonna shoot your friend!"

Steele fumbled a wind crystal into his under barrel launcher, and the formulas from combat school danced in his head.

They didn't remember the details, but twenty minutes later, the White Fang wasn't shooting. Cobalt and Steel were looking down their holo-sights at a pack of pre-teens holding rifles over their heads. Then past them, they were looking at adults dragging an anti-tank gun into position. Cobalt looked over his shoulder, to the paladin convoy, and realized what was going on.

He saw that Winter's spectral horse stood alone. The Huntress had vanished. The anti-tank gun fired its first shot, and The Huntress appeared before them, her saber splitting the round. Its two halves fell on either side of them. Cobalt blinked and the huntress was gone again. A sonic boom swept leaves and dust into the void she'd left. There was no second shot.

In Fleet Commander Gray's office, a long silence had fallen. Steele and Cobalt were thinking.

"I guess..." Cobalt hesitated, "I just really think we'd be dead if it wasn't for Hikari. And... Hikari can't always be there. So... I wanted to be like her. Like, maybe I could be that soldier for someone else."

Steele nodded his agreement. "We want to be Winter Soldiers."

It had been a very long time since Gray had laughed. He made a quiet, raspy sound, and his chest shook. But it was only for a second. "That's a long road over a steep cliff, Gentlemen. I'll be honest, here. I've granted you an audience because you two have demonstrated leadership and vision. These are good traits for a marine. I brought you here to talk you out of this."

They waited, respectfully quiet.

"You were pretty young, Cobalt. Do you understand what happened at Chernobyl?"

"Faunus labor strike went wrong. Reactor blew up. All the miners died."

Gray sighed. He shook his head. "It's amazing the kind of things the Retinue can hide. What happened was a mass atrocity. Your father was pressganged by them. We all were. You're doing good work in the military. You're fighting Grimm. In the Retinue, they'll ask you to do a lot of killing. As in people."

Cobalt and Steele separated for a moment. They'd been inseparable since they met. But this kind of moral quandary had to be answered at the most individual level. Cobalt had always reasoned that there were two sides to every conflict.

He asked, "But they have their reasons, right?"

Gray nodded. "I suppose they do. If you have no moral qualms about the unit, consider your lives and your livelihood. I have twelve marines in my infirmary right now. Three months ago, a rogue huntress broke into Vale CCT and put them all down. Two are comatose, three are paralyzed, the others are rehabilitating from broken limbs. The fight lasted twelve seconds. This is what happens when a huntsman plays _nice_. And hunting huntsmen is what the Retinue does. On that point…"

He opened a drawer on his desk and pulled a notepad from it. He read aloud.

"Twenty percent of applicants die in training. Twenty percent of those selected for service will die within their first year. Fifty percent will die within their first five."

Steele and Cobalt were stoic in the face of those odds. They didn't look to each other for assurance.

"We did our research, Sir," Cobalt nodded.

"Well then," Gray mumbled, "you should know that your applications have been sponsored by Agent Hikari, with an appended commendation from Specialist Winter."

"Sir?" they said in unison.

"You look surprised."

Cobalt shrugged, "Well... All I did is hide behind a tree and piss myself, Sir."

Gray nodded. "That'll serve you well."

After that meeting, on the shuttle back from the carrier, Cobalt pulled his scroll from his pack. He smiled at the long list of messages from his unit.

"Steele, look. Everybody says we're cool."

"We're pretty cool," Steele admitted.

"You know, there's a few hours left today. Gym?"

Steele said, "I dunno, I was thinking hand-to-hand. Oh. You know what? Let's watch the tourney. I wanna see how huntsmen fight."

"Sure," Cobalt shrugged.

He tapped across his scroll while Steele retrieved his own.

"Darn, just missed a match," Cobalt hummed.

"Oh. Who won?"

"Looks like Yang Xiao Long beat Mercury Black."

"Xiao Long. She's that farm girl, right? Ring out?"

"No. She broke his aura."

"Hot damn. That sounds like a real fight. Where's Mercury from?"

He looked over Cobalt's shoulder. On the screen, Yang Xiao Long stood triumphant, arms raised to the crowd and shouting. Behind her, Mercury Black sat up, stood, rubbed what hurt, and dusted himself off.

He walked to his opponent and extended a hand. Yang turned to look at him.

Cobalt chuckled, "Doesn't sportsmanship just warm the-"

And then Yang cycled her shotgun vambraces and put a round through Mercury's leg. The feed cut to color bars. Cobalt and Steele looked at each other.

In unison, they said, "Holy shit."


	23. Consequences

General James Ironwood stepped into Ozpin's office and shouted, "She's dangerous!"

The Headmaster looked up from his desk, to Glynda Goodwitch. She shrugged at him and folded her arms. They both turned to Ironwood.

Ozpin answered, "Yang Xiao Long is firmly in my jurisdiction. Our primary concern right now is the destruction of Vale. Panic would only hasten that. We must maintain the appearance of normality throughout the city. So there will not be a single citizen of Vale taken into Atlas' custody. Am I clear, General?"

"Don't bring that into this, Ozpin. Yang Xiao Long is not above the law. She belongs in mobile detention aboard _Eidolon_."

Glynda stepped in. "She belongs at Beacon, her Academy."

Ironwood dismissed her with a wave. "Raven is criminally insane and we _know_ her traits are heritable. Yang is only going to get worse!"

Glynda shouted, "She is _not_ Raven!"

They waited for Glynda's echo to fade.

Ozpin said, "We should withhold any further discussion until Qrow arrives. He is her legal guardian."

They waited. The elevator sounded, and Ozpin prepared for Qrow's aggressive banter. But Branwen didn't even look mad. He took his time crossing the room, sighed, and said, "I think we all saw the video."

He looked to General Ironwood. "A lot of bad vibes right now. What're the monsters up to?"

Ironwood's scroll rumbled. He grumbled, "That's the Fleet," and flicked it open. "Commander Gray, I'm here with Headmaster Ozpin. You have an update?"

Fleet Commander Gray nodded. "We detected agitation in Mountain Glenn, Odessa, and Forever Falls. None of the swarms stampeded, but Swarm Rancor altered course towards Vale and has occupied Mountain Glenn. Agitation ceased after ten minutes. Swarm Malice, from the north, will be in the Emerald Forest by tomorrow. We've lowered the DefCon back to Five. Threat level remains at three, but Rancor might be spawning in Mountain Glenn. If so, we'll be at threat level four by tomorrow. We're safe for now, as long as the media can keep everyone distracted."

Ironwood nodded, "Thank you. Keep me updated." He flipped his scroll closed. "Ozpin, I understand that you want to protect your students. But you have to choose. How much harm does Yang get to cause before you act? If she becomes her mother-"

"-Hold on Jimmy-" Qrow interrupted, "Summer raised her. She's not gonna be like Raven."

"How can you say that? The world is in desperate need of huntsmen, and she just mauled one for life!"

Glynda unfolded her arms and scoffed. "He can get a prosthetic, James."

Ironwood didn't often lose control of his emotions. He felt like he'd just been shocked through the whole right half of his body. As if every prosthetic in him were just attacked by those words. He took a moment to steady himself.

He said, "It's not the same."

Glynda hesitated, then nodded. "I'm sorry. That was insensitive."

Ironwood turned back to Ozpin. "Xiao Long needs to understand that there are consequences for her actions."

Ozpin looked to Qrow, as her Uncle and legal representative. Qrow was cleaning his teeth with his tongue. He didn't seem to have a rebuttal.

So Ozpin tried, "I believe that she learns best through her empathy. She cares very much about her sister, and about her teammates. They will keep her on the straight and narrow."

Ironwood balked, "Her teammates? You mean Blake Belladonna?"

Qrow mumbled, "Here we go."

Glynda snapped, "We agreed not to argue about that anymore, James."

"This is different. Blackbird and Nightshade's tendencies are heritable."

Glynda mouthed, "Blackbird and Nightshade." She didn't like the dehumanization.

Ironwood didn't care. "Blake and Yang clearly inherited those traits. Ozpin, do you honestly believe putting two killers together will reform them?"

Qrow finally stepped in to assert something. "Three killers, Jimmy."

That brought a halt to everyone's thoughts.

Ironwood asked, "Ruby? Ruby's a killer?"

Glynda and Ozpin checked each other's faces.

Glynda asked, "What are you talking about, Qrow?"

Qrow held up a finger for them to wait. He pulled out his flask and pulled liquor from it. The morning headache abated and he sniffed as if his nose has just woken.

Then he said, "You're all worried that Yang might grow up to be Raven. I've got news for you, Jimmy. Raven's got nothing on Papa Schnee. If Weiss turns out anything like her father… A lot of people are gonna wish Blake offed her when she had the chance."

Ironwood bristled. "That's different."

"I dunno, Jimmy. Maybe we should just get rid of all the kids. Their parents were awful people. Humanity might turn out the same as the last thousand years, you know?"

Glynda said, "Let's at least be serious, Qrow. But, I agree, not as serious as you're being, James."

Ozpin announced, "I have a compromise."

Ironwood nodded that he would listen.

"Grant Yang Xiao Long parole. We will act as her wardens. We will limit her weapons rights and restrict her to the academy's grounds, which keeps her away from the general public. We can resolve legal conflicts at the end of the Vytal Festival. In the meantime, the public disturbance can be kept to a minimum."

Ironwood said, "Fine. But if she sets foot off of Beacon…"

Ozpin agreed, "I understand."

There wasn't anything else to say. So Ironwood spent his night aboard the carrier, staring at maps and receiving briefings on Grimm activity. He'd been asked once how he slept at night. Sometimes, he didn't.

In his quarters, he found an old photograph of himself receiving a Captain's lapels. He yearned for that simpler time. There were no sixteen year old assassins, no budding serial killers in his custody, no silver-eyed archons of wrath, nor Schnees mixed in with them.

He set the photograph back and looked at his robotic hand. He realized, those were the days that created these. Those days were in Chernobyl.


	24. Cirque du Soleil

A young Captain named James Ironwood stepped out of a prefab structure and onto the Atlessian permafrost. His first battlefield commission was guard duty at a mining camp distant from the capital. The northern mountains sighed in his direction, sweeping his greatcoat and swaying the evergreens. He left a trail of footprints as far as the main road. His lieutenants fell in beside him and stood at attention.

At the gates, guards safe'd their weapons and admitted a troop transport. James, in only two weeks as a Captain, had already failed his commission. His mining camp wasn't producing. He'd feared replacement. Instead, the homeland sent a man from the Special Retinue Service, well versed in the problem of faunus labor strikes. The troop transport stopped before James' welcoming party, and that man stepped out of the passenger door, cane first.

James introduced himself. "Agent Noir Soleil? I'm Captain James Ironwood. Welcome to Chernobyl."

"No pleasantries, Captain," the old man waved. "No time. Let's get out of this cold."

More Retinue soldiers piled from the transport, unloading supplies. James and his lieutenants brought Soleil into the prefab command center. Noir Soleil accepted some coffee from an orderly, and then began speaking. "That mass of tents I saw- The laborers quarter there?"

"Yes, Agent," James nodded.

"Are there any free rooms in the dormitories?"

"Only one, Agent. I wasn't informed of your platoon."

"We will construct our own shelter, Captain. But make that room ready. Do you know which of the faunus is leading the strike?"

"There are several people we suspect, but it appears to be a distributed decision."

"It isn't. Have them appoint a spokesperson, then bring him here. We still have three hours of daylight, yes? Let's have him tonight. One other thing: Orderly, go outside and retrieve my dining accessories from the cargo truck. This room should accommodate us all."

Soleil waited for the orderly to leave, then snapped at James, "Well?"

James turned to his Lieutenants. "Cobalt, prepare Agent Soleil's sleeping arrangements. Gray, find the spokesperson from the laborers."

That left James and Soleil alone in the prefab. Soleil took a seat and put his feet up. He looked at the tack board, where a map of the camp's surface hung beside a map of the immense caverns below.

"You have a severe problem, Captain," Soleil whispered.

On training, James replied, "No excuse, Agent."

Soleil chuckled. "You misunderstand. You were stationed here to prevent further attacks by the White Fang. I see that the perimeter you've constructed is pristine. I take it the attacks have stopped?"

"Yes, Agent. We believe our presence deterred them."

"Do you have a precise headcount of your workers?"

"Ten thousand and seven-hundred. Give or take about twenty. We can't record every death in the mines and every immigrant."

"And you have no Identification program for your workers. So the whole of the White Fang's elite Shadow Pact could infiltrate your camp, and you would have no way of knowing who didn't belong."

James understood then that he had a serious problem.

"The faunus believe that you will make concessions to them in order to avoid losing your job. We, all of Atlas, are dependent upon them for their labor. Do you understand? We've given them power over us. These animals were our slaves, once. The things you own end up owning you."

Soleil sipped his coffee and kept staring at the map. James mumbled, "Their demands aren't so unreasonable, Agent."

"I suspect that the White Fang commander, and all of his forces, are within this camp. He has the power, at this moment, to rally all ten-thousand and seven-hundred people against you and overwhelm your Division. That he hasn't shows a lack of initiative."

"You aren't a negotiator," James realized.

"Let me rest, Ironwood. Be ready for dinner when our guest arrives. And relax. Why do you look so worried? You are a young man with two capable hands and a commission as an officer. And for assisting me in solving this dire issue, I will accelerate your career in the Capital. There's nothing for you to worry about, James. So don't. Just do as I say… And survive."

James didn't like his position. He dressed that night for what he knew could be his last. If Agent Soleil was right about the White Fang, or if he was wrong and provoked a riot, James would be the first against the wall. Relaxing wasn't an option.

But James had a totem to embody all of his hopes and dreams for the future. At the last Vytal Festival, he'd met his match in a young Vale Huntress. He tucked Glynda's photograph into his heart pocket and returned to the command center to meet the faunus leader.

Noir Soleil had renovated. The disgustingly luxurious accessories for his dining must have taken a large section of the truck. And he'd brought food from the homeland, fresh and kept warm. Noir Soleil sat at the head of the table, and the faunus spokesperson sat to his right. So James sat to his left.

"I was just saying hello to Mr. Tukson," Noir explained.

James nodded hello. Tukson was some kind of cat hybrid, no older than twenty. He nodded meekly and kept his posture erect and polite. Their guest had manners beyond his station. James felt glad to see that Tukson was far more nervous than he.

James followed Soleil's lead. He didn't speak out of line, he laughed appropriately at minor quips, and the meal was enjoyed in peace, in the formal style of humans from Atlas. Throughout, Tukson was able to keep pace and etiquette with Noir Soleil's conversation about literature.

Then Soleil very abruptly set his utensils down and admitted, "I am here for the Dust, Tukson."

Tukson swallowed his last food, and set his silverware down in the same pattern that Soleil had.

"I am here for the rights of my kind," he replied.

Noir took a long time to look Tukson in the eye and examine his resolve.

"I have good news for you," he finally nodded.

Tukson's chest raised as he took a large breath of relief.

Noir explained, "I am authorized to offer proper housing and two extra rations per person per day, in addition to medical treatment, educational programs, sick days- suffice to say that you all know full well that we need your labor and we must capitulate to your demands. There is one problem, a minor hiccup really."

Soleil paused to dab a napkin at his mouth. Tukson shivered.

"The problem is that we can only extend these benefits to miners. And none of the faunus in this camp are mining anything. Your job is simple, Mr. Tukson. You must explain to the laborers that they will be provided with a living, provided that they continue to labor. More specifically, they have until tomorrow to produce two megatons of Dust. Otherwise, they are no longer employees of the Schnee Dust Company, and are therefore ineligible to receive benefits under any State programs."

He stared Tukson down until the faunus nodded his understanding. Tukson didn't have a counter offer. He seemed stunned. James leaned in though, and offered his first comment.

"Two megatons? That's almost double the median daily output."

"Yes, well there's lost time to make up for," Soleil dismissed. "And if I have read your maps correctly, there is an exposed vein of that amount left uncollected due to the strike. The matter should be trivial."

Noir glanced to Tukson, who nodded his agreement.

"I'm finished and very tired from my journey," Soleil announced. "But feel free to enjoy your meal, Mr. Tukson. Also, feel welcome to sleep with us in the dormitories. A room has been made for you. Lieutenant Cobalt can show you to your quarters when you are ready."

Soleil left, and James only stayed long enough for an awkward exchange with the Tukson.

"So… You like books?"

"I do, Sir," Tukson nodded.

And that was that.

The next day ended in a similar dinner. Soleil sat at the table's head. James sat at his left. Tukson sat at his right. Soleil remained civil and unpredictable. James remained fearful that assassins would overwhelm his forces. Tukson looked like he was facing the gallows. As dinner was served to them, Soleil began his conversation.

"No Dust," he said.

"The equipment is sabotaged, Sir," Tukson mumbled.

"So I've heard. All of the keys to the drilling vehicles are locked up in a booby-trapped cage in the mine. As my demolitions expert explained, any attempt to blast through the cage will bring the cave down on it, and any attempt at opening the cage without the password to the keypad will trigger the booby-trap, bringing the cave down on it."

Tukson did not answer. He did not acknowledge his food.

"Pity," Soleil said.

Tukson swallowed fear. He watched Soleil eat, as if waiting for a snake to strike. James tried to enjoy the meal, but his stomach was busy twisting. Soleil turned his conversation to James.

"Captain, I have a brain teaser for you. Why did the laborers reject my offer?"

James had no clever insights. So he spoke the truth as he saw it.

"Maybe they didn't believe you. When you said all of those things about new benefits… Was that true?"

Soleil shrugged. "What is truth? They made their demands, and I capitulated. If they didn't want to follow through, then what was the point of the demands? I matched a lie with a lie, James. Here is the Truth. This is not a protest against conditions. There is a White Fang commander within the ranks of the laborers, and he doesn't want better conditions for workers. His objective is to deny the State of its strategic resources, the Dust from this mine. This is just another battle in the White Fang's war."

He turned to Tukson.

"How were you selected, Mr. Tukson? Surely there must have been a hundred nominees from ten-thousand to speak on behalf of the many. How were you chosen?"

"T-there were a hundred of us, as you say, S-sir," he stuttered.

Tukson gulped and continued, "So we broke into groups of ten, and each group elected-"

"Decimation," Soleil summarized.

"Yes, Sir."

"Good. You should eat, Tukson."

"I'm not hungry, Sir."

A distant boom startled everyone but Soleil.

He said, "You will be."

James turned to Lieutenant Cobalt and nodded for him to investigate. As the lieutenant left, Soleil stood from the table and glared at Tukson from above.

"I have a new offer for you to return with, Mr. Tukson. Tomorrow morning, we will ask for the White Fang leader to surrender. If they do not, we will then decimate you. One of every ten laborers will be elected for execution, and their replacements will be shipped in from elsewhere. This will repeat daily."

The door burst open for Lieutenant Cobalt. He panted, "Oh gods. The Retinue just destroyed the food stockpile. We have a riot."

The first bursts of gunfire echoed into the night. James turned to Soleil.

Soleil shook his head. "The Black Suns are experts at crowd control. There is no worry. James, sit."

James had stood in alarm. He obeyed.

Cobalt hesitated at the door and asked, "With your permission, Mister Soleil, Sir, Agent, I'd like to check on my son."

Soleil nodded for him to go. James found his tongue in outrage.

"Agent Soleil, decimation is… The White Fang won't be the ones decimated! You're guaranteed to only kill innocents!"

"Very astute, Captain. The White Fang will ensure that their operatives are never the ones elected for execution. Because the common faunus matters as much to the White Fang as they do to the Schnees."

"Then why-"

"Because they need to understand that."

Tukson, his face wet with tears, choked, "I am the White Fang commander."

Soleil shook his head. "No. Of all the faunus in this camp, I am certain that you are in no way connected to the White Fang, Mr. Tukson."

The tears sprang from Tukson as he understood how powerless he really was. "S-sir, please. I am the-"

"You should be happy," Soleil snapped. "This food, your new quarters, luxurious dining and fine discussions about literature… It's all meaningless to you, isn't it? You threw it all away just now to save a hundred friends and ten-thousand strangers. So your virtue is your treasure. You should be happy because, in this camp, you alone are above reproach. Now, if you will not eat, go deliver my message."

On the third night, there was no conversation. Tukson refused to eat. James tried, but his conscience stayed his appetite. Ten-thousand souls were going a second day without food, bearing the cold in tents and praying that they would live to starve another day.

"I must compliment the resolve of these faunus," Soleil said.

James looked down the table to his lieutenants. By their expressions, they understood, just as he did, that Soleil was holding every one of them hostage.

On day five, James and Tukson ate like beasts. The meat was no longer fresh. It had a stringy, packaged, air dried texture, and lost its flavor whenever it got cold. Hunger had won. And James was familiar with a soldier's diet. He didn't complain. Soleil looked at them both contemptuously.

"We've solved the food crisis for the laborers," he hummed.

James imagined that the mass-killings were a greater concern. Soleil held some steak aloft on his fork and grimaced at it.

"Somehow I always knew…" he said, "that faunus would taste disgusting."

James did not eat again until the ninth day. Soleil held his morning lecture over the PA system. And then the White Fang leader surrendered.

A cat-faunus in her prime, a head shorter than James, but with more pride left in her stature. Straight black hair draped down to her waist. She had an extra set of ears, feline, atop her head. As she stepped forward, the others sank to their faces in the mud until the whole congregation lay prostrate before her. When James secured her cuffs, she addressed him with her eyes. Her pupils were vertical slats. Her voice was soft and level.

"Captain, I'm at the mercy of your honor."

James whispered his reply. "I'm sorry. But you are at the mercy of another. And he has no honor."

Soleil waited for them in the SRS camp. The retinue had erected their own fenced compound. Among those structures was a holding cell. The Retinue soldiers took their prisoner inside while Soleil, Tukson, and James met before it. Soleil did not look happy.

He turned to Tukson. "Who is she?"

"Khali Belladonna," Tukson said.

Soleil watched Tukson, as if reading him, as if checking his resolve as he had on that first night. He wrapped an arm around Tukson and brought the faunus too close for comfort.

"That's a very believable claim you've made, Tukson. But I don't like it."

"I'm sorry, Sir," Tukson shivered.

"Because I've been assuming that 'Little Bull' was the White Fang commander in this area."

"I don't know who that is, Sir," Tukson said.

"You call him Adam Taurus, Tukson. He's very young, but these Bull faunus are extremely strong by the time they're ten. I have many, many reasons to believe that Taurus is the commander here. But now you're telling me that the woman I've just captured is 'Nightshade.'"

"That's what I've been told, Sir."

Agent Soleil nodded. He patted Tukson's back. "I know you want this awful business to end even more than I do. You can help it end faster, Tukson. Tell me what matters to her, more than anything in the world."

Tukson had run out of tears last week. He didn't cry now. He didn't even look like a man.

He mumbled, "She has a daughter."

Soleil patted him again, then released him. "Good. Go find Lieutenant Cobalt. Tell him to bring me the child. Ironwood, come."

They entered the holding cell. Chained to the floor, Kali could only look them in the eye by tilting her head up uncomfortably. Soleil dragged a chair forward to hold her head in his lap.

They both kept expressions of serenity. Context aside, they could have been father and daughter. Soleil told her a story.

"I have two daughters, born a year apart from each other. Love is… A compulsion more powerful than hunger, or life. But you already know that."

It was here that Kali's serenity faltered. She shook, then struggled. Soleil gripped her hair and held her in place.

"My firstborn fell very sick at a very young age. I am a wealthy man, and I have spent seven years of agony keeping her from death. But… She is not truly alive. Her mother believes she perished. Her sister doesn't even know she exists. I had no options, you see. I have been studying the nature of the soul. Its properties, its substance, its transference and even fabrication. Though that will require further study."

Here Soleil lost his serenity. To stay calm, he stroked her hair.

"I can't imagine the pain you are in. I don't want to. I want you to feel _my_ pain, Nightshade. You see, to keep her in this world with me, I needed miracles. I have made those miracles. I have torn the souls from living faunus and flopped them about at whim. The same principles govern human souls. That should console you as much as it did me. But I couldn't bring myself to give her a body other than her own. I had to create another miracle. A body like hers, but without her flaws. Without her genetic diseases."

"So a new body was engineered. It's almost complete. Two miracles, Nightshade, do you understand? Twice I've defied the gods. I can accept an eternity in Hell, but they cannot let her draw breath and then take her from me. You understand. I know you do."

"Now I have only one obstacle before me, Nightshade. I need more materials to complete the body. And to transfer her soul, I need energy. Lots of energy. Do you understand? Both of these things, materials and energy: Dust. I need the Dust, and that means I need the mine to function. There's nothing you can do to stop me, Nightshade. I will kill every single faunus here and keep replacing you until I have the Dust. Don't resist me."

His tears landed in her eyes.

Blinking through them, she answered, "I don't have the code."

"Who does?"

"Adam."

"And where is Little Bull?"

"He left."

"I can't take your word for that."

"I know."

They were quiet, and only held each other's company for a long time. Ironwood had been taught that torture was a game of psychological endurance. James did not feel that he was enduring. He did not feel the serenity that Belladonna kept showing. She broke their long silence.

"I know you, Soleil. Your wife writes those beautiful poems in the letters we intercept. She's famous, and she's made you famous. Her prose has moved us through the hardest nights of winter."

"Yes, she's… She's inspired me to live more in these years than I would have in whole lifetimes without her."

He swallowed his sorrow and asked, "Do you… Do you happen to remember any of that prose?"

Belladonna laughed as much as her starved frame and utter despair allowed. But it was a laugh at absurdity, void of bitterness, brief and joyful. And then she nodded and spoke from her heart.

"Oh, lover, how I linger on your kindness,

As if sentiment and passion alone,

Rationed, could nourish and keep my heart warm.

"By day, hopeful, I await your return.

By night, I light the stars that will guide you,

To me, closer, to the peace in our home.

"Though tossed by Fate and her Four Seasons I,

Supplicant to your tenderness, await.

Come to me soon, for you are my Remnant."

She finished with her eyes closed and her head at rest. Soleil had released his grip on her, had softened as James had never seen the man, nor ever would again. A loud knock ended that moment, and Lieutenant Cobalt entered with a young faunus, a girl who appeared almost human, save the extra set of cat ears, and the vertical pupils of her eyes. She was no more than four. She didn't seem to understand the direness of her situation until she heard her mother weeping.

"Thank you, Kali," Soleil whispered.

She sobbed, "Do what you must, Eclipse. We have never known you to be merciful. And I would think less of you as a father if you did not call upon every means at your disposal."

He gripped her hair, and snorted back his tears in preparation for work. He slipped brass knuckles onto his other hand and said, "Yes. Well… In for a Penny, in for a Pound."


	25. Malice II

Autumn had come to Chernobyl. The first snowstorm was a wall building on the horizon. The wind howled. The whine of the reactor klaxon made it all feel like the final Fall. In an hour, everyone here would be dead and buried.

Captain James Ironwood sprinted out of the dormitories with Lieutenants Gray and Cobalt flanking him. They were cut off crossing the road by the SRS truck. The Retinue skidded to a halt and Agent Noir Soleil leaned out the back to shout.

"Ironwood! You've done fine. Some things just can't be helped. We're leaving now. You and your officers should come back to Atlas with us.

Cobalt asked, "Can I bring my son?"

Soleil nodded, and Cobalt abandoned Ironwood. Lieutenant Gray wasn't so quick to desert.

He hesitated, then said to Ironwood, "I'm with you, Sir."

And here Ironwood had a problem. Because he desperately wanted to live. But he didn't want to leave the miners.

He decided, "I can manage the evacuation without you, Gray. Get on board."

He pulled the lieutenant closer and whispered, "Don't let them Snowblind this."

He pushed Gray to the truck and turned to leave.

Soleil shouted. "Don't throw your life away, Captain! You have a place in the capitol. All you have to do is survive."

He answered, "I'm not like you."

The Agent nodded his acceptance. As farewell, he said, "Be what you must. Best of luck."

Ironwood reached the command center and found his engineers scrambling over analog outputs and paper schematics of the reactor.

He ordered, "Someone tell me how we fix this."

Schwarz Schnee ranked in engineering.

He shook his head. "We can delay it long enough to escape. Here's how."

Ironwood stood beside him. Schwarz pointed to a map of the tunnels.

"The super-reaction is inside the core of the reactor. If we open the reactor and remove the sarcophagus, it should be light enough for six people to carry. The nearest inert borehole is right here. If we drop the super-reaction down it and bury it, we'll have a few days before it spreads to the vein. We're talking them through opening the reactor core right now."

He gestured to a huddle of engineers at the radio. One spoke, his voice flat and enunciative.

"Now pull the _green_ lever towards you."

James squinted. "Schwarz, anyone who goes near that reactor while it's open will be dead within an hour."

"They only need twenty minutes."

"Schwarz, look at me! Those are people down there! I know your solution's cheap and easy, but if there's a way to stop this-"

That sent the man off his leash. Schwarz snarled, "This mine is a tenth of my family's net worth! If there was a way to save it, I'd damn well be doing it, Ironwood! If you aren't helping here, get out!"

James sprinted to the motorpool. He needed his enlisted men to see that the officers hadn't abandoned them. He shouted orders to no one in particular, to make himself heard.

"Everything you can't mobilize in ten minutes gets abandoned! We're short on time here. Account for fuel first, people second, and anything else last!"

He left that place and ran past the mine entrance, the primary borehole, where two great blast doors from the great war covered a circular elevator shaft for heavy equipment. Glancing down the hole, he saw the elevator platform rising.

He kept running, to the SRS encampment. They'd left everything standing. Even Kali's child sat in her cage. She, Blake, had been the fulcrum of the faunus' compliance. She was the collateral by which Soleil had extracted his two megatons of Dust. A pile of carved wooden totems surrounded her, where miners had tossed them over the fence as gifts.

James tore the fence down through force of adrenaline. The lock on her cage was stronger. He pried at it with a crowbar until his aura burned over his greatcoat like the aurora borealis. The crowbar snapped.

Blake didn't react. She looked pale as snow, still as ice, her hair black as night. For all he knew, she'd already died of the Retinue's neglect. James only had time for survivors.

He left her and ran back to the mine entrance, where the elevator had jammed just short of the surface. That wasn't the only malfunction. One blast door had jammed closed in the most recent snow. He lay prone on it and reached his arm down.

The whole platform had only five people on it. Khali Belladonna stood at their head. All reason had left Ironwood. And with it, all suspicion. He stretched his arm down and shouted, "Make a ladder! I can pull you up!"

They were quick and organized, like soldiers. He pulled Belladonna up, and she joined him in helping them. Ironwood thought he'd have to explain the last man dilemma. Because the last man climbing out would have to climb the back of the second to last man before he comes up. When they performed it without communicating, his reason finally caught him. And he realized, they aren't _like_ soldiers. Beladonna stepped on his back, and one of the Shadow Pact jabbed the barrel of a Ballistic Chain Scythe into his side.

Beladonna murmured, "Don't shoot him yet. Verdan, send the elevator back."

The platform lurched and lowered again, down into the deep. Beladonna crouched beside James.

He panted, "I'm on your side. I just want people to escape."

But he found no sympathy in her feline eyes. On this closer inspection of her face, he realized the full extent of Noir's destruction. Belladonna no longer had a second set of ears atop her head. Clotted blood matted her hair there. He could no longer appeal to the humanity of this faunus. He was speaking now to the animalism of a human.

She said, "We aren't like you. We do not escalate. We return an eye for an eye. You didn't do this to us, Ironwood. But you had the power to save us."

"Soleil would have had us all killed!"

"He commanded a force of twenty men. You commanded over a hundred. It is too late to feign weakness. You left us to die. And we'll leave you."

She knuckled him between the shoulder blades. He felt cold where her aura pierced him, bruising the spine and immobilizing his legs and pushing his lungs closed. He gasped, for air, for the pain to stop, for the nightmare to end. The real terror about this moment was that he'd seen this pitiful and hopeless kind of death before.

He was just another white coat laid to rest in the snow. He'd meant nothing to the world.

The Shadow Pact's footsteps faded under howling wind and the rumble of trucks. He heard wheels rolling on the permafrost behind him, ferrying away men car-by-car. He could see them looking at him on the ground. Not one stopped to save him.

His only hope for rescue was the flickering shadows in the mine. He saw bodies piling onto the elevator. Then the mechanisms engaged, and the machine slowly pulled that writhing mass of despair towards him.

He clung to that hope. Even when heat and light rushed up through the mine. Even through a great crash, as the snowstorm cleared the trees- even looking up into the wall of nature just before it buffeted him. The white fury obscured everything. He couldn't see the length of his own arm. But he reached down and hoped that someone would reach back.

Something grabbed his arm, not for purchase as a person climbing him would. It tugged. It pulled him, so that half his body dangled over the blast door and his head fell below the snows.

The mass on the elevator had begun as ten-thousand faunus, all climbing each other and reaching desperately for the surface, all swearing their revenge and screaming their curses upon the cities of men. Ironwood saw them now and thought: if only they could die.

For Noir had truly stripped them of their identities as faunus. And the exposure to so much burning Dust had stripped them of all other humanity. As the warmth of that ethereal fire engulfed them, their forms and their fury merged until the whole mass was a single creature of ill will- a goliath, its trunk still screaming as a person but merging into the whole and pulling Ironwood down.

In James' last moment, he looked into the burning, red eye of Goliath Malice. Its screams invaded his mind.

The light reached the blast door, passed through the uncovered half of his body, and James Ironwood joined in the scream.


	26. The Maiden

Glynda Goodwitch stood beside Ozpin's desk and stared out over the emerald city of Vale. To the south-east, she could make out the peaks in Mountain Glenn and the round dome top of Bald Mountain. She felt something bad, neither emotion nor sensory, as if a spiritual wind was blowing from that place.

Her position as his secretary was a dream come true. She'd discovered too late that life in the field was not to her liking. And life as a city huntress was competitive in the extreme. She'd arrived at the top by nurturing a relationship with Ozpin directly. He rambled constantly and forgot everything. Her job was to remind him of his better ideas. He sat at his desk, beside her, and rambled.

"I simply cannot trust a man with an army. I cannot trust his habit of recruiting students directly into his military. I cannot trust James Ironwood."

She said, "Aren't we doing the same thing?"

Ozpin considered, his coffee half-way to his lips. He shook his head and took a sip.

"This is different. We're doing it once, and it is necessary."

Glynda turned away from the scenery to assure Ozpin. He spent most of his time as a warm and welcoming headmaster flowing with personal advice. Some days he turned into a cranky old hermit suspicious of the world. He needed a woman's touch to bring him out of that shell.

"Ozpin, I know James. And we may have had our differences, but he is the man who threw down his life for everyone at Chernobyl."

Ozpin waved a hand aggressively to interrupt her.

"Glynda, do you never question how he survived? Isn't it suspicious?"

She snapped, "I _know_ how he survived, Ozpin! They found him half-dead thirty kilometers away! He crawled!"

"Yes, I know. Still…"

"Ozpin, I understand why you fear his willpower and worry about his might, but I am not going to listen to you besmirching his motives!"

Ozpin looked unsettled. "You're right. Thank you, Glynda. What would I do without you?"

"Probably spend your whole life in this tower, trying to make a philosopher's stone and screaming at children who trespass on the lawn."

"That does sound appealing," he admitted.

They waited for a minute, hoping to kill time. Ozpin turned a glance her way, and an observation. "I know you don't like this, Glynda."

"I don't care how well she's doing in combat trials. She's a child. We're using her, Ozpin. You're dragging her into an eternal war over the maiden powers. You're asking her to kill the Fall Maiden. She's a child!"

Ozpin knew how to play a punching bag. He had the uncanny ability to absorb every level of disagreement and seem unfazed.

"Glynda, I would prefer to seize the powers for myself, and never involve a bystander for all my days. Because I only trust myself with this kind of power. But a student who seeks my council and dwells on my advice is close enough. Anything less is a wildcard. Consider what happens if we do nothing."

He swiveled in his chair and looked to Mountain Glenn.

Glynda pondered that fear, rather than principle, placed her on Ozpin's side. This could save whole cities. But she also wanted to follow his thought experiment and find a better way.

"If we do nothing…" she mused.

"And if the Fall Maiden dies…" Ozpin egged.

"The powers flow to the last person in her thoughts, if that person is a young girl."

"And if that person isn't?"

"The next most likely candidate is someone with title to the powers."

"For the Fall Maiden, that would be the Maidens of Athena. Athena was a direct descendant from the original Fall Maiden. She made a blood pact with her battle-sisters."

"But we're _sure_ that they died thousands of years ago, without children. So no one has title," Glynda noted.

"Which makes the Fall Maiden an exceptionally slippery and volatile asset," Ozpin grumbled.

"The next most likely candidate is someone who seeks the power."

"Exactly the people we don't want to have it," Ozpin said.

"Hence your obsession, and your means," Glynda murmured.

"Yes. Because there is only one way to guarantee that the powers of the Fall Maiden are within our control. There is only one way to guarantee that she becomes the next maiden."

Glynda saw no other way but Ozpin's. She admitted, "She has to kill the Fall Maiden."

Ozpin asked, "Is there anyone you trust more than our girl?"

"I don't know. I know I don't trust anyone who seeks that power."

"Exactly why I chose her, Glynda. Her restraint could be mistaken for timidity."

"If she really has that much restraint, she won't be able to do what we're asking. To become a soldier…"

"I'll remind you that warfare is the purpose of this academy."

"Warfare against Grimm, not other humans. Isn't that how you distinguished yourself from General Ironwood?"

"No. I am doing this as a necessity. He enlists his students as a matter of policy. That is the difference."

"Can you promise me that we will only do this once?"

"If there is a better way, I will find it, Glynda."

"If she dies, can you promise me that we will never draft our students again?"

"These are dark times, Glynda. I have pursued every option I have before coming to this moment."

"Ozpin. This will only happen once. Right?"

The elevator sounded, and the door opened for a young Mistralite girl they'd picked up from the tournament circuit. She strolled in with her chest puffed out and her chin held high. She had enough pride to hide how nervous she was about her summons to the headmaster's office.

Ozpin smiled warmly, held out his hands, and greeted her.

"Welcome! Have a seat, Amber."


	27. Yang Alone

Yang Xiao Long sat on her bed beside Blake. Across the room, Ruby and Weiss sat together. Everyone stared at her. Ironwood had just explained her legal status. It was all too awkward: him being there, and him being gone. At least Blake wasn't so tense beside her anymore. Yang felt hungry. She felt naked without the weight of her shotgun gauntlets.

Blake saw her rubbing her wrists and asked, "They took Ember Cecilia?"

"I'm not allowed to have my weapons without supervision."

"And you're not allowed to leave the school," Ruby mumbled.

"That… Really sucks," Weiss tried to sympathize.

Weiss and Ruby had as much social experience put together as Zwei. The corgi hopped up onto the bed and sat in Yang's lap. Ruby and Weiss only stared at her.

Blake, as she'd been doing all day, stared at the clock. Yang couldn't help but feel that they all just wanted to leave her there. Everyone in Vale hated her now because they saw her break Mercury Black's leg for no reason. No one, not uncle Qrow, not General Ironwood, not even her own sister, could believe that Mercury attacked her first.

And why would they? There were videos, eyewitnesses, by the millions. She'd seen it from ten different angles in High Definition on Blake's scroll. Without a doubt, either she was crazy, or everyone else was.

She suggested to Blake, "You don't waste the day on account of me."

Blake nodded distractedly. "Yeah, actually, I uh… I have to go... To a thing."

Yang tried not to react. Blake left her side, and she didn't reach out, or cry, or show any sign of loneliness. Her problems were hers alone. She didn't want to be a burden, not like she'd been to Summer and Ruby.

Weiss asked, "Where will you be, Blake?"

"Just… Out," Blake said.

The door clicked shut behind her, and Yang sat awkwardly with Ruby and Weiss.

Weiss said, "W-well, we can all just hang out today. We'll make it a party."

Ruby whispered, "We signed up for that thing today, Weiss."

Weiss' eyes bulged. "Oh… Right. The Field Day Drills."

Yang sighed. "Just go."

She didn't watch them leave. She'd been excited when Ruby and Weiss were accepted into the drills. She wanted to still be excited. She felt resentment. She'd failed her team, her whole academy, in the tournament, and now they wanted nothing to do with her.

This dormitory had been the sanctuary she retreated to for almost a year. Now it was just a cell in her prison. She needed air. Autumn in Vale had a sobering snap of cold in every gust. Walking down the school's promenade, to the cliffs, she knew the season had really come into swing. A tide of leaves rolled through her like a wave at the beach. Her breath frosted in the air. She shivered. A patrolling Atlas marine sighed, "Gods, I missed the cold."

She heard Nora running at her from behind. The stomp-like footfalls gave it away. She reached Yang and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey there, Lady Smash."

"Hi, Nora. I don't think it's funny."

"Boy, you sure welcomed him to Vale, huh?"

Yang turned to show Nora her face, that she wasn't enjoying joking about it.

"Oh. Well, uh, I just wanted to say hi. Ren and I are doing the Field Day thing with the soldiers. It's a daaaaaaaaaaa-ate."

"It's probably not a date."

"It's not a date," she admitted.

"But I hope you have fun, Nora."

"Thanks."

Yang turned to leave.

Nora shouted, "Wait! Have you seen Pyrrha? She didn't come back to the room last night, and Jaune said she's not acting like herself!"

"It's probably nerves," Yang mumbled.

She didn't turn back. She left Nora, and didn't stop walking until she'd reached the abandoned chapel near the cliffs. She looked out over the harbor, the docks, the ocean, Vale, the great curve of Remnant, the morning sun shining across the whole expanse. The beauty didn't move her. She hated herself. She thought, maybe people shouldn't have to leave her. Maybe she should leave.

And immediately, as if she'd jumped up from a nightmare, everything that made Yang, Yang objected. She would never leave Ruby. She would never leave Blake. She would rebuild everything she had broken.

She turned in to the chapel and came face to face with Pyrrha Nikkos.

"Oh," they both said.

Yang pursed her lips. She looked away. She said, "Uh…"

Pyrrha offered, "I was just leaving, if you want to be alone."

"I don't," Yang said.

She'd thought of it as an admission. It sounded like a cry for help. She felt worse, seeing Pyrrha seize on that in her impossibly generous way.

She offered, "You could talk to me, if you want."

"No, I don't-"

"Please," Pyrrha begged.

Yang understood. They were at their lows together. Pyrrha probably wanted to talk about Jaune. But Yang felt good about that, because at least she wouldn't have to hear more judgment.

"I guess we should get inside," Yang breathed.

They huddled near the altar, beneath a stained glass image of an ancient warrior woman. She bore the sigil of Mistral on her shield. Pyrrha looked at her the way she looked at Jaune. And like a bolt of duh, Yang realized that Pyrrha dressed like her.

Yang asked, "Who is she?"

Pyrrha perked up. Yang had bitten into a long conversation.

"You don't know?"

Yang shook her head.

"This is Athena Polis, the Lady of Mistral."

"Their… God?"

"Well, no. Athena Pallas _was_ one of the gods. This warrior took her name, Athena, and created the city of Mistral. There are chapels to her all over Remnant, usually by locals wanting to honor some deed. She had a band of adventurers."

Those were the women in stained glass, lining the pews along the whole length of the building. Yang saw one that looked vaguely like Blake, if Blake dressed like Pyrrha. She smiled at it. Another looked too similar to Raven: purple eyes, black hair, devilish smirk. She didn't want to think about her mother.

Pyrrha, still smiling at Athena's image, hummed, "I like the craftsmanship."

Yang nodded. Her mirth and her smile dissipated. "I usually come here to be alone."

"Me too," Pyrrha admitted.

"Funny we never see each other."

Pyrrha met her eyes. "Well, I'm usually here at the beginning of the week for meditation."

"And I'm here at the end, to unwind."

"And here we are together, in the middle," Pyrrha finished.

"Tough week," Yang surmised.

"There's someone…" Pyrrha began.

Yang thought, "Here we go."

"I met someone else here," Pyrrha said, "and we had an interesting conversation."

Yang knew Pyrrha would come around. For now, all she could do was perk up and ask, "What about?"

Pyrrha looked at the room's center and answered, "Destiny."

Yang had expected something emotional and relatable.

She shrugged, "I don't believe in Destiny."

Pyrrha shook her head, as if Yang had just dunked her under water.

She stammered, "Y-you, what?"

"I don't believe in Destiny. I choose my own Fate. I make decisions, and I do my best. And if I didn't, the outcome would change."

"Oh. Right. No, I didn't mean pre-determinism."

"What did you mean, then?"

"Destiny is a goal. It's something you work toward your entire life."

"Oh. Well then not everybody has a destiny. But you definitely do, Pyrrha."

"Right. But I'm worried that…"

"You're not gonna fail, Pyrrha."

"No. Not that. What if you worked very, very hard for something for your whole life, and then you found out that you could never have it? Or, even worse, what if you found out that it was free? All of your effort was pointless?"

Yang monotoned, "I guess I'd have an existential crisis."

But Pyrrha didn't have a taste for dark humor.

She asked, "Yang? Suppose nothing is predetermined."

"Okay."

"I have to be me. Just like you have to be you. When push comes to shove, and you have to choose between dying proud or bending to survive, we die. We die of ego."

Yang thought it through.

She said, "It's better to die that way than to live without identity."

Pyrrha nodded, "That's what I said."

"To who?"

"Professor Oobleck. But he said ego is so abstract that it is absurd."

"Ego is absurd?"

"That's what he said."

"Isn't Professor Port, like, his best friend?"

"Just hear out the argument, Yang. I need you to help me explain why it's wrong."

"Okay."

"He said that, on a fundamental level, everything is pre-determined. So my ego, my compulsion to be me, and the me defined in that compulsion, were all out of my power. "

Yang had found the limit of her participation in the conversation.

She mumbled, "Uh… Okay?"

Pyrrha licked her lips and tried again. "So… When you put two magnets near each other, what happens?"

Yang pantomimed with her hands, "They snap together."

"Right. They have to. That's… Those are the rules of nature. The magnets don't choose."

"But magnets aren't people. People choose."

"Well… Here's another example. Let's say there was a clerical error, and Blake Belladonna and Sun Wukong got put in a room together. The school would just be asking for trouble, right?"

Yang didn't answer. She felt a burning coal in her gut that she'd never had to deal with before. Jealousy was exactly as Uncle Qrow had described.

"Uh… I-I don't think…"

"Chemistry is Chemistry. It's just like the magnets."

"No, it isn't! People are responsible for their own actions, Pyrrha!"

"In legal, and social, and political concepts. But in _reality_ , do people have control over their own actions?"

"Of course! Otherwise it wouldn't make sense."

"Let's go back to the magnets."

"Why? People aren't-"

"Yes, we are! That's the point, Yang! Chemistry is like the magnets. Chemistry has rules. Chemicals don't get to choose. And a person, a brain, is just chemicals. So anything that comes out of that complex can only be a product of those deterministic interactions!"

Pyrrha stopped and leaned back into her own space. "Sorry."

Yang parsed the big words together, to make sure she understood. She saw Pyrrha cringing in pain at what she was presenting. It really was tough to argue against.

"Okay, but, Pyrrha, what about the soul?"

"That doesn't solve the problem, Yang. A soul has rules. A soul is a discrete entity, right? It is one thing and it isn't anything else. And who you are flows as a direct consequence from what your soul is. So the soul is deterministic, too. So you are just a product of the moments preceding you. And that means that the future must be what it will be. In other words, what will be, already is."

"But it hasn't happened yet."

"But it will! And I'm scared!" Pyrrha covered her mouth, eyes wide. She swallowed and looked away.

Yang understood that she was damn well lost in this conversation. "Uh… What _exactly_ are we talking about?"

Pyrrha wouldn't meet her eyes again. She mumbled, "I think I've said enough. Can we talk about your problems now?"

Yang nodded. "Uh, sure. Yeah. Well, you already know about my problems."

Pyrrha nodded and hugged her knees to her chest. She asked, "Why did you do it?"

Yang quipped, "'Cuz I'm a bag of chemicals?"

Pyrrha was catching on to the dark side of humor. She smiled, though her eyes watered.

"But seriously. When I was on that stage, I turned around to wave at the crowd, and I heard him threaten me. I said, 'better luck next time.' And he said, 'there won't be a next time.' And then I heard him cock his weapon and lunge at me. And when I turned around, I saw him throwing a high kick at me. So I ducked and shot his other leg."

Yang glanced at Pyrrha, to look for a reaction: sympathy or rejection. Pyrrha kept staring at the room's center.

Yang huffed, "look, I know there are hundreds of videos from every angle and thousands of eyewitnesses. I've seen it. But I'm telling you, I know what I heard and I know what I saw. He was going to-"

"I believe you."

"You what?"

"I said I believe you, Yang."

"Why?!"

"You'd have to be really dumb to say that if it was a lie," Pyrrha mumbled.

She finally turned away from her focus and smiled at Yang playfully.

Yang held out her arms, flabbergasted. "But I don't have any proof! You'd have to be even dumber to believe it!"

Pyrrha laughed. And Yang couldn't help but laugh with her.

Their moods sorted, they passed the day on that cliff, watching in distant fields as the military carried out their exercises and evaluated their readiness. The Vytal Tournament had been postponed for a day, to reorganize the event around future Yang-like incidents. In the afternoon, as the sun waned against the sea, Pyrrha resumed her look of foreboding about her vague and dire secret. She stood and walked, and Yang walked with her.

Pyrrha held her shoulders high and tight, still tensed by her problems.

She said, "Suppose everything is predetermined."

Yang asked, "Like magnets?"

"No. Suppose there's a designer."

"Like God?"

"Yeah. Like one of the gods. And everything, people included, is just carrying out a program. If that's the case, then we're no different from automatons."

Yang snickered, "Like that girl from Atlas?"

"Who?"

"Penny."

Pyrrha laughed, then corrected herself. "That's… Well, that's rude. But I'll admit she has some robotic habits," Pyrrha giggled.

Yang prided herself on lightening Pyrrha's mood. It ended quickly.

Pyrrha continued, "My point is, if we're like magnets, and we can't choose, then why do I have to experience this? Why do I have to be part of this play? All I can bring to the table is my suffering."

"Well now, come on." Yang nudged her. "Life's not all bad, right?"

"No. No, there were some wonderful moments," Pyrrha admitted.

Yang had a deeply relieving sense of perspective. Pyrrha's problem was worse than hers.

"But…" Pyrrha said, "I had a plan for my life. I wanted to be like Athena and her Maidens."

Yang looked back through the distance they'd walked, at the chapel. She wore her confusion plainly, and Pyrrha smiled, "Can I tell you the story?"

"Sure."

"You might think it's silly. It's just a fairy tale."

"If it made you, you it's nothing to laugh at, Pyrrha."

"Well… Thank you."

"The story."

"Yes. There once was a woman from the swamplands who became the Fall Maiden."

"Wait, like, from the story of the Four Maidens?"

"Yes."

"Is this a sequel?"

"I don't know."

"I thought fairy tales don't mix."

"They don't in Vale. In Mistral, all of our stories are related."

"That's so cool. Okay, continue."

"Well her name was Athena. She assembled a band of the best young women she knew, so that she could lead them by example in the virtuous use of power. She called it The Better Path. She led her band on great adventures through Mistrals swamps and Vacuo's sands and Vale's glades, protecting the weak and vanquishing Grimm and spreading knowledge of crafts to every land they visited. In Mistral, they cultivated a certain apple tree that you can still find planted across the whole continent in the trail of their journeys! Or, so the story goes."

By Pyrrha's excitement, Yang could tell she took some parts as true.

"That's a nice story," Yang said.

Pyrrha blurted, "It's actually kind of long, now that I think about it. The point is, they were all killed."

"What?"

"They didn't believe people should idle in cities. So they never built walls or even houses. Because the Grimm are drawn to lethargy and waste. Grimm seek the darkest parts of humanity first. The gods charged us with constant expansion. We were meant to fill the stars. But, because Athena's Maidens were not under the power of Kings and Queens, they were killed."

"Why?"

"Tyrants cannot allow freedom. Not even independence. In the stories we tell in Mistral, the cities were founded by tyrants."

"But Mistral's a city."

"Kind of. Well, it is, now. It still has some uniquely spartan features. We don't have a wall, like the other cities."

"Really?"

"Well… It's complicated. We have many natural barriers. But to maintain the perimeter, we rely almost entirely on patrols."

Yang stopped, and Pyrrha stopped to see why. They'd reached the air shuttle dock, the line marking the academy's jurisdiction. Pyrrha took another step, and was in the emerald City of Vale. A shift of marines idled in the waiting area. One pointed to Yang, and they all unslung their laser rifles to low ready. Pyrrha saw them, then looked back to Yang and realized, "Oh. I forgot."

Yang shrugged.

Pyrrha looked back to the city. "I… I'm meeting my team."

"It was good talking, Pyrrha. And, you know what? Don't let this whole Athena Fall Maiden thing get to you. It's just a fairy tale, right?"

She didn't like the answer in Pyrrha's expression. The Mistralite girl cringed, as if in pain, and lied, "Yeah. No, you're right. Have a nice night, Yang."

And then she quickly turned and left. The walk back to the dorms took her along the Cliffside. The ocean breeze made her shiver. In the distant fields past downtown Vale, she saw vehicle headlights and infantry rifle lamps roaming in the dark. Ruby and Weiss would be at the Field Day drills till midnight. So she knew she had the room to herself. Or, hopefully, to herself and Blake. That hope danced within her when she opened her door.

But she was alone. She deflated, and all posture collapsed without a need to present herself. Blake's notes lay scattered across her bed. That wasn't normal. Blake kept everything tight and tidy.

She spotted a bump under the covers. It rolled up to the bed's head, and out from under popped Zwei.

The dog startled, chased his tail in three circles, and jumped up onto Blake's notes so he could bounce and bark.

Yang groaned.

Zwei nudged a paper towards her and placed his paw on it.

She folded her arms. "Zwei, NO! Did you get these out? You're not supposed to touch Blake's things! You know that! Where did you even get these from? How am I supposed to put these back?"

She snatched the paper from under him. Blake had a complicated note-storing system that involved writing on bookmarks and reorganizing them as mnemonic references. This kind of dog sabotage would throw her off for weeks if it wasn't put back right.

She skimmed over the page. It looked like a biography. But everything was printed. She hadn't written on it yet. Yang stared at the portrait. General James Ironwood. They weren't studying him in any classes this semester.

And then Yang understood. She wasn't holding a biography. She was holding a dossier.

WHO: James Ironwood

WHAT: Chief of SRS

WHEN: irregular hours at night

WHERE: Eidolon, Deck three, aft, State quarters

WHY: Chernobyl.

NOTE: First attempt failed.

Yang picked up another page, another dossier.

WHO: Azure Cobalt

WHAT: Atlas Infantry Captain, Ret.

WHEN: Midnight

WHERE: 10 Axiom Ave. Sky District, Atlas.

WHY: Chernobyl

NOTE: Completed.

Another. Schwarz Schnee. Completed.

Another. Fleet Commander Gray. Postponed.

She found the last one. And there she stopped.

WHO: Noir Soleil

WHAT: The Devil Himself

WHERE: Downtown Vale, Atlas Embassy Plaza

Blake had circled the when. Yang looked at the clock: twenty minutes.

Out the window, two Atlas soldiers stopped their patrol to look up at Yang's window, as if to remind her that they were watching.


	28. Midori

Midori stepped off of her shuttle, onto the carrier _Eidolon_ , and had no idea what to do next. She still felt the chill of Atlas in her bones, lingering from two days ago, when she'd planted a flag atop Peak Thirty-Three, taken her oath, and claimed her place in the Special Retinue Service. Now, she was one of The Winter Soldiers. She'd been on a carrier before. She knew better than to wander on the flight deck.

An ensign from the Fleet ran out to meet her, and Midori returned the short girl's salute. She read the ensign's nametag, and shouted to be heard.

"Neopolitan? Nice to meet you. Where do I find Specialist Winter?"

Neopolitan pantomimed something about not hearing. The high winds and thin air weren't conductive to talking, so Midori followed her wave and walked with her down the carrier's side. Vertigo had been a fear she'd overcome on Mount Blue Balls. She clutched the guard railing and descended the stairs on _Eidolon'_ s hull to the hangar deck. Through the perforations in the steel steps, she could see Vale waiting to catch her if she fell.

Down in the cargo deck, she spotted Force Specialist Winter Schnee- The Legend- standing beside her personal tiltjet. She looked like a statue, stiff and overbearing. Around her, The Winter soldiers scrambled into their combat gear and checked weapons.

Winter's gaze swept over them as if inspecting presentation. Damn, though, they really did look like professionals. Midori waved a goodbye to ensign Neopolitan and jogged to report for duty.

It seemed a fine time for an introduction. Midori dropped her duffel bag and saluted.

"Good morning, Specialist! Midori, reporting for service."

Winter turned a contemptuous glare to her. Her eyes turned down to Midori's boots, then scanned up, flinching over some flaw on her pants, then skipping up to her eyes. That single failure had concluded the analysis.

Winter turned away, to shout, "Agent!"

Hikari Oni hopped from the craft, combat helmet covering her eyes, and black armor covering the rest of her. She looked Midori over.

"You the Rook?"

"Yes, Agent."

"What are you doing, Recruit?"

"I'm saluting Specialist Schnee, Agent."

"If I catch you saluting a huntsman again, you're out of my unit."

Midori dropped her salute. "Sorry, Ma'am, I-"

"Agent."

"Ma'am?"

"A-gent," Hikari enunciated.

"Sorry, Agent. I thought… Uh…"

Hikari scowled at her hesitation. "You thought what?"

"I thought only the Black Suns refused to salute huntsmen."

"I got my Agency in the Black Suns." Hikari held out a hand. Midori shook it.

Hikari retracted very quickly. "We're deploying. Not you; I'm handing you over to The Wing today. See that plane?"

She pointed down the deck's taxi system. The next craft in line was a Borealis Class sub-orbital strike bomber. Midori felt a high like only a near-death experience could bring. Being this close to such a perfect machine never got old.

Hikari said, "Strap up and find Major Coal on the bridge. You're handling his weapons systems today. You've got your Merlot System certs, right?"

"Yes, Agent." She nodded to Winter. "Specialist."

Winter didn't acknowledge her.

Midori ran to comply. She'd never felt so jilted and so excited at the same time. Her flight suit was in the duffel bag, so she stopped and ran back to grab it. Up on the bridge, she found Major Coal at Flight Control. They had a map table displaying Vale and Mountain Glenn.

Major Coal extended a hand black as anthracite to her. He spoke around an unlit cigar. "Agent Midori? Major Coal."

"Just Midori. Nice to meet you, Major. You wouldn't happen to be related to Flynt Coal in the tournament?"

"Fruit of my loins."

The best thing about the military was the men. She hesitated in the banter, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. No, it was in a ponytail. She didn't need to.

She stuttered, "U-uh, sorry about your Dust business. Getting run out by the Schnees, I mean."

Coal tilted his head, as if pained on her behalf. She felt like an idiot.

The Major smiled. "Flynt was just trash talkin' for the cameras. There's no hard feelings between me and the Schnees. Midori, this is Fleet Commander Gray."

He turned the conversation with a wave.

Gray was a far more serious man, married either to warfare or a woman who demanded stricture. His introduction was the quiet assertion of a handshake.

Then he pointed at the map table. "We have two Swarms closing on Vale. Swarm Rancor has occupied Mountain Glenn, following Goliath Malice's historical path. Before they became Alpha Goliaths, Malice and Rancor were twins spawned from Swarm Fürcht, so this coordination is noteworthy."

Gray gestured the map to the background, and brought a satellite photo from atlas to the foreground.

"This pack used to be swarm Malice. Two weeks ago, the Retinue ambushed them in the Death Straits."

Major Coal waved a question: "Where?"

Midori jumped at the chance to redeem herself: "Twenty klicks west of Mantle. Ley line flows through a canyon there. We use it to practice elastic defenses against Grimm swarms."

Gray continued. "After a thorough decimation, the swarm routed and skipped off the board. At that time, the swarm had no goliaths. And our prediction was that the loss of mass from skipping would put them below spawning threshold. However:"

He gestured the map forward and swiped it to the coastline north of Vale's gulf.

"Three days ago, they walked out of the ocean near a settlement called Patch. At double their normal mass. And now they're moving toward Vale. Behavior has changed completely. They've avoided ten of ten predicted paths."

Coal asked, "How do we know it's the same swarm?"

"Deduction. Nominally, we don't. That's what you're investigating. A local huntsman has eyes on them. He's reporting an alpha goliath, two subordinates, and a monarch. I need you to get out there and reconnoiter the swarm. I want composition, density, agitation, everything you can gather. Any questions?"

Major Coal said, "Just for Midori, Sir."

He turned to her and asked, "I don't know what kind of flying the Retinue has you do, but we'll spend twenty minutes unpowered in space. You've got certs for this kind of equipment, right?"

Gray raised an eyebrow, joining in that questioning. She got these looks a lot from the older generations.

Midori laughed. Now it was she who outclassed him. "Gentlemen, I've got more certs than you two are cleared to know about."

Twenty minutes later, her seat restraint clicked into place, and the canopy of the Borealis closed over her head. The constriction from her seat padding and restraints felt like being swaddled in the heart of a great, mechanical beast. She sealed her helmet. Every breath drew a long hiss from the machine feeding her air.

In the pilot seat her, Major Coal started ignition. Midori's panels lit up as the on-board computer booted. She heard a click in her helmet, and their comms started.

"Can you hear me fine, Midori?"

"Five-by-five, Major."

"Seat comfy?"

"Starting to think it was made for me."

"Don't get too comfortable. My copilot got roped into the Field Day drills on the red team. They stuck him in a gunship and told him to fly like a Nevermore."

"Sounds like The Suck sucked him in."

"The Suck?"

"Infantry slang. You know, like, how everything in the military sucks no matter how cool it is?"

She saw the Major's shoulders jerking in front of her. He was chuckling, too quietly to trigger his microphone.

"Sounds right," he admitted.

His helmet turned Port side, to another large machine in the hangar, draped mysteriously in tarp. Coal stared. Midori smiled.

She asked, "What do you think of it?"

"It looks like a Mark Two Paladin. But… Bigger."

"Close. Paladins have beefy armaments for a mecha, but they're only rated to fight Grimm. In the Retinue, we hunt huntsmen. You're looking at Crusader."

"That's yours, Midori?"

"That's mine."

Major Coal read off the bold serial number on the side.

"V, T, N, T, M, R, K, Thirteen. That's the joint forces R&D group the Merlot's started, right?"

"Yup."

"I recognize those heat sinks. That's the adaptive power-armor system I designed. You know, before the Schnees ran me out. I guess it still works."

"Holy shit, what? That's an understatement, Major! Your invention is indestructible! Well, no. You've been watching the tourney, right?"

"Of course."

"Those duralithium blades Penny's got are from the same lab. She's the only huntsman in Remnant who can scratch the Crusader."

Major Coal sighed. "With duralithium? You're kidding."

"Not when they're unpowered. What she's swinging around on stage are basically sharp clubs. But when they're powered, they're electron blades."

"Uhuh. Let's be real, though: How is she supposed to power six electron blades? She'd need batteries half her weight. Or a small dust reactor. Which… Is feasible. But where's she hiding it? Kids these days don't go long on the skirts. Could a cybernetic-?"

Midori remembered suddenly that she had more clearances.

She interrupted, "We should stop talking about this."

Major Coal stopped. He turned his helmet and glanced back at her, confused. She shook her head, very seriously.

He nodded. "Understood. Alright. We've got a pile-up on the taxi system from all the flight deck activity. Let's get our pre-flight done while we're waiting."

They spent another hour waiting for the catapult. Takeoff went as planned. They flew North until they were clear of civilization, and then Midori's heart truly beat with excitement.

"Alright, Major. Angels thirty. Horizons clear. And that civilian flight is out of range. I'm ready to ignite our stage one."

"I'm green up here, too. Oh, Midori. I'll assume we've both read Primer on Space?"

"Yeah, I'm cleared for Top Secret and Space Program."

"Good. You ever seen The Blob?"

"No."

Major Coal Pointed fore. "It'll be somewhere near our forward horizon on the way there. Keep a look out."

"Will do. Ready to launch, Major?"

"Hit it."

She lifted two hazard-colored switch guards and flicked them to active state. The solid-fuel boosters strapped to the borealis were basically uncut dust crystals burning like a hobo fire in a trash can. They even wiggled relative to the craft as they burned. The G-forces against her chest stopped her from watching them too closely, and the incredible wonder of space kept her from wanting to.

Remnant fell away behind her, as if she was departing it in a dream, and the blue sky parted like a curtain covering nature's modesty. Naked space laid out before her. The heavens, the garden that the gods had laid out for humanity, awaited her conquest. And then every instrument in the craft lost power. Even the solid fuel stopped burning in an instant, then detached and drifted away.

Dust doesn't work in space. The gods hadn't mentioned that in _Crusade_. It seemed like an important detail to their plan for humanity. Midori thought they could have left a note, like, "By the way, you'll need an alternative fuel for space travel."

The heavens were made off-limits by that failure of the miraculous mineral. Her advance into the stars slowed, the G-forces waned, and she was in free-fall, on a ballistic trajectory back to Remnant, to Patch.

All she heard up here was her organs pumping, and the oxygen flowing into her helmet from a pressure system. The nose of the Borealis lowered, and the great circle of home came into view. The shattered moon drifted past her starboard side, its tail of asteroids following like baby ducklings. Above Remnant's clouds, she saw a blue halo of breathable air. And near the horizon, poking to the extreme of that air, she saw Peak Thirty-Three. She waved.

Then she heard a loud tapping. Major Coal had rapped his knuckle against the canopy. He pointed.

She looked up. And she saw The Blob. The great black mass of tentacles writhing in orbit, only visible where it reached into Remnant's halo, and then retracted as it touched light. The mass of that single Grimm was greater than the whole of Vale. She felt an incredible hatred for it on sight. She imagined how satisfying it would be to tether that beast and drag it down to Remnant's surface. That great shadow was a second barrier to space travel. It was standing between Humanity and Destiny.

She heard wind. The Borealis' nose stopped dropping, and levelled out as the atmosphere thickened and the wings generated lift. A minute later, Major Coal hit his ignition, and the engines powered on. The great circle of Remnant receded beyond their view, and the blue curtain concealed space once again. Her panels flicked to light, and Major Coal spoke.

"Back in action. Alright, Midori, I'll call _Eidolon._ You try and get our huntsman on the horn. His name's Taiyang Xiao Long."

"Will do, Major."

She switched her comms from Vale CCT to the Radio Relay Network.

"This is Borealis, First Expeditionary, hailing Taiyang Xiao Long. Anyone there?"

A man answered, "Just call me Tai, Borealis. Had time for lunch before you got here."

"So did we. What have you got for us, Huntsman?"

"Just some Grimm. I've got a laser designator on the Goliath."

Midori fiddled with her displays. "Major?"

"Coordinates received. Turning to Two-Two-Null. ETA two minutes."

The craft banked around and the swarm came into view. At this altitude, the skies were clear of weather in every direction. But above the swarm were clouds and lightning and all the bad omens from the fairy tales.

"Thank you, Huntsman. We have the target."

"Any time, Borealis. I've got a second one for you. Tell me when you receive."

"Done. What is it?"

"A cocoon. I think they're spawning a Monarch."

"Alright. We can take it from here, Huntsman. You have a nice day."

"Will do, Borealis. And thanks for the banter. It gets lonely out here. Tai out."

Major Coal turned them down below the weather. Midori switched on the cameras below the Borealis' hull.

"Alright. I've got eyes on the swarm, Major. Keep us level and I'll snap some pictures."

The craft shook, then lurched as the turbulence lashed them.

"Level as I can, Midori. What're we looking at?"

"Mostly Beowolves. None of them have any bones. The whole swarm must be less than a week old. Yeah, that one's still coalescing. I don't see a single Griffon. Some Deathclaws. A tribe of Balefires; Lots of bones. Red spirals all the way down their torsos. I've never seen a Grimm that old. There's the cocoon. He's right, definitely a Monarch. There's a color guard around the Goliath. He's surrounded himself with Boarbatusks. That's not Rancor's style. Low agitation; They're walking in orderly patterns. High uniformity. High dispersion; about a foot of spacing between each Grimm. I don't see any fusing or visual distortions. No spectral wind. Goliath's holding his head too low. Spirals all end in perpendicular cuts. This isn't the Alpha."

She adjusted her scopes. "Spotted the Alpha. He's got a scar in the right ear. Two dents in the right, anterior dorsal bone. Spiral patterns extend past his… Past his shoulders. Wait. This isn't right."

She hesitated too long.

The Major called, "Talk to me, Midori."

"Grimm bones grow over time. Spirals come from experience. This goliath is about thirteen at most, but... The spirals…"

She recognized them from her studies. "Major, these spirals belong to Goliath Malice. What the hell is going on here?"

"You sure?"

"Those spirals are identical. The only way for a Grimm to get them is to go through the same experiences in the same order."

Coal quoted, "Knowledge is for Man. Understanding is for the gods."

Midori knew the _Crusade_ cult was limited to the Retinue. She didn't expect to encounter it from the military. She'd been restraining herself. She smiled at Coal's back. He was getting better by the second. She returned to her scopes. A huntress was walking in the swarm.

She blinked and adjusted her scopes. "What in the name of… Major, get that huntsman back on the horn."

"Tai, you still there?"

"Yes I am, Borealis."

"Midori?"

"Huntsman, do you see a woman walking within the swarm? Reference the Alpha Goliath. Left, front foot."

As she said it, she zoomed her camera in and focused the lens. "Fuck me, that's-"

Tai spotted, "Raven?"

Major Coal guessed, "Branwen? Blackbird?"

The Huntress looked up as Borealis passed over her.

Midori snapped a picture. She smiled as a realization struck. "Major, what's our loadout?"

"You're on weapons, Midori."

She thumbed her multi-function display over the arsenal. "We've got a Nimbus underwing. Payload is enough for ten huntsmen. Oh my gods, Major, we're about to bag the Retinue's most wanted!"

Major Coal banked them wide, to broadside the goliath. "How's your shot?"

Midori's hands shook. Agent Hikari had snubbed her. And it was no secret that Shadowcat was in Vale. The Winter Soldiers were going to kill number four on the hit list, and they were too cool to bring Midori along. Well she was too cool to let them share in the big one.

Her voice shook. "Great angle. No structures. Huntsman is behind us. I've got tone."

She flipped up the trigger guard and announced, "Hawk-Two."

The sound was like their boosters. A white cloud engulfed the starboard wing, and the munition streaked ahead of them at Mach-Five.

Raven smirked, turned, and walked under the goliath to its far side. She'd been in the field too long. Nimbus Aeronautics Mark 3 had obstacle avoidance. Midori's heart thrummed like a hummingbird.

The missile pulled wide to maneuver, dove in under monster, and suddenly detonated against the goliath's aura.

Major Coal choked on his own spit. "Ahk. It- What the hell?"

Midori had forgotten that detail. Malice had an aura. She'd known that, and she'd forgotten. That's why Raven was standing just under it. Midori had just blown her chance at glory. Her face burned. She would never live this moment down.

They passed overhead. Raven stepped out from under the goliath and waved at them.

Coal banked again. "Second try?"

Midori swallowed. Her indicator blinked red. "That's all we've got, Major."

They were quiet while he brought them up to altitude and angled them for the launch home. They had a lot to think about. They were silent, rising above the clouds, watching Remnant become a sphere.

Midori always found solace in other people's problems. She asked, "Why doesn't he move to the city?"

Coal hummed, "Who?"

"He said he's lonely out here. Why doesn't he move?"

"Maybe he's a _Crusader_."

"Maybe he is. Think he knows about his daughter?"

"Yang? That kid she crippled in the tournament? The whole world knows about that."

"Tough life. Hey, speaking of the tournament, who do you think's getting the matchup tomorrow?"

"I dunno. I'm hoping for that archer kid from mistral to fight that aura-fiend from Vacuo. It's crazy she got this far fighting with her fists. And her semblance? When he knocked the floor out from under her? Levitation is the hottest thing I've ever seen on that stage."

Midori agreed. "Those desert monks are no joke. But I bet Penny Polendina's gonna sweep the tourney. Especially if the Bureau can figure out Pyrrha Nikkos' semblance before the fight."

Major Coal cringed. "That feels like cheating."

"They're just reviewing publicly available videos. Nothing wrong with that."

"The military sure spends a lot on Polendina," Coal noted.

Midori didn't answer.

He realized, "So our secret weapon is sweeping the tourney, huh?"

He sounded like she'd stolen the jam from his toast.

An indicator flicked on. Coal distracted himself with it. "Alright. We're pointed home and up. Boost when you're ready, Midori."

She hit it.

On the ride to the stratosphere, as the globe rounded out, Major Coal spoke through the G-Forces.

He said, "When I'm up here, I think about all those flabby PoGs behind the walls who can't even lift a sword. I'm glad my son's a huntsman. I think those walls give us all a false sense of security, you know? Should've listened to the gods."

They hit space. The boosters cut and fell away.

To the darkness, where no one could hear her, Midori said, "What do the gods know? They left us this mess."

She rested her head back and fantasized about a life of freedom on the high seas.


	29. Field Day

Ruby Rose sat on an ammo crate in the fields north of Vale, dangling her legs and feeling bored. Weiss stood beside her, arms crossed, falling asleep on her feet. They were idling with Blue Company, talking to some new friends named Cobalt and Steele. A Paladin pilot joined their huddle and crouched down into the chat.

Pilot said, "Nice weather."

Steele nodded, "Yup."

Cobalt added, "Mhm."

Ruby nodded her agreement.

Weiss' head lolled over to one side, then straightened when her balance alarmed her.

She asked, "Are we starting yet?"

Steele shook his head. "Nah. Muster was at Null-Eight-Hundred, and we've only been out here for an hour. It's probably starting in another twenty."

Their radios all crackled, snapped, and then announced in dulcet tones, "All forces, this is _Eidolon."_

Cobalt elbowed Steele. "Hey. It's that Merlot chick."

"Who?"

"You know, Fola. She's the comms officer on the carrier."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"She's got a nice voice."

"Yeah, she's pretty hot, too."

Weiss snapped, "Are you even listening? She's giving us instructions! We're supposed to listen!"

So they did.

"We will now simulate a Grimm attack of Threat Level Seven. Allow me to review radio protocol for the simulation's duration. All radio communication within the simulation will be spoken in the negative. I will give an example now. We are _not_ being invaded by Grimm. Any emergency messages should be prefaced with warcode 'Apple.' I will now give an example. 'Apple. We are under attack.' That was just an example. All simulated orders from Vale TacCom will be pre-recorded messages. The first pre-recorded message will begin the simulation."

The broadcast ended and Cobalt snarked, "Good thing we know what to do now, right?"

"Only had that briefing five times," Steele sighed.

Their radios crackled again, and a robotic voice announced, "Simulation begins now."

Ruby hopped to her feet. "So we're starting now, right?"

"Finally," Weiss snapped.

"Don't get too excited," Steele mumbled. "It'll probably be another hour before anything happens."

Ruby growled, "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh," and flopped back onto the crates.

Weiss huffed, "Is this really what you do all day? I thought the military would be putting all of this equipment to use, but we're just standing around!"

The soldiers laughed. The laughter spread to the platoon, then the whole company as she was repeated in mocking tones.

"Oh man," Steele chuckled. "You've got a bad case of The Suck."

"What's the suck? It doesn't make my face look bad, does it?"

"Oh yeah," Cobalt nodded. "Makes you look just like that."

Ruby sat up. "Oh no! Is it contagious?"

"Very," The pilot chuckled.

Ruby's fear turned to suspicion.

She grumbled, "They're making fun of us, Weiss."

Weiss moaned, "I only signed up for this because I thought it would be fun."

The soldiers laughed harder.

"It _is_ called a field day," Ruby noted.

Her eyes settled on the Paladin, and the soldiers settled down enough to notice. The pilot gestured over his shoulder. "Cool stuff, huh? Yeah, not everybody gets to pilot a state of the art machine."

Ruby frowned at it, waggled her head around, and said, "Naaah. I wasn't impressed."

"What?! That's- you realize this thing can take on a team of huntsmen, right?"

Ruby scrunched her nose. "Not my team."

The pilot straightened, as if accepting a challenge. Steele held out a hand.

"Hold up, Man. Yang Xiao Long's on her team. Remember that Paladin the White Fang jacked? Yang's the one who took it out."

The pilot nodded, "Oh yeah? She sucker punch its legs?"

Ruby snapped, "Hey!"

Cobalt held out his hands and barked, "Dude!"

Steele shook his head in disapproval.

Weiss waited, then said, "Ruby, she _did_ break Mercury's leg. It's a valid criticism."

Time wore down the barriers between them. An hour later, the soldiers and the huntresses had agreed to stop arguing. The pilot had spotted something out in the field. When he came back, everyone gathered around to look at a rusted Ballistic Chain Scythe. The Paladin pilot set to work cleaning off the serial number.

"Oh man. Haven't seen one of these since my dad closed down shop. That was… Twenty years ago?"

Steele asked, "Your dad made weapons?"

"Nah. Just a wholesaler."

Weiss and Ruby looked at the weapon with concern. Ruby finally whispered to Weiss, "That looks like Blake's gun."

Weiss snapped, "Of course it does, Ruby. Blake Belladonna uses a variant of the Ballistic Chain Scythe. She's only geeked out to Yang about it like a million times."

"Guns aren't geeky," Ruby defended.

"Yeah!" The pilot agreed.

He turned to Ruby, "And yes, Shadowcat does use a variant of the everyman's weapon."

"The what?"

The pilot chuckled. "Oh, that's… Sorry. Marketing. So my dad wanted to start a business. The whole family broke into a Merlot warehouse and loaded up our trucks with these things. Only, come to find out the military had rejected them."

"I can see why," Weiss blurted. "The Schnee Enforcer is clearly a superior pistol."

"Yeah. If you can afford it. But if you're a faunus… A broke huntsman leading a revolution, for example, you need a gun that economizes."

He racked the slide, to make sure it was empty.

Ruby pointed, "The action looks really sloppy."

"Yeah it's supposed to be that loose. It takes a lot of ammo types. You can send your aura through it, .223 Freeze, .50 lightning, BPI .30-"

Weiss, incredulous, interrupted, "It can take all of those?"

"Oh yeah. It'll break in a month no matter what you feed it. Not the chassis, though. That's the important part to the faunus. When you engage the transform to melee, you get a blade that's kind of kukri-boomerang hybrid. So each faunus carries two guns. You tie a ribbon through the trigger guard, and wrap that around your wrist. So one gun, you toss up into a tree and swing around with. The other one, you shoot with. And you just alternate as you go. Check it out."

He held out the weapon and flicked his wrist. The pistol transformed half-way to a gun-assisted dagger. The transformation halted part-way, stuck on dirt.

He sighed. "Yeah, okay, it's not a great weapon. But we got 'em free, and dad realized we could sell them to the faunus. So if you're ever walking through the woods and you hear a sound like someone's dropped a bag of marbles, hit the deck and think fondly of my old man."

He tossed it back to the ground.

Cobalt walked away to stare at the clouds. Steele yawned. Weiss had already fallen asleep again. Ruby couldn't have been more excited. "Oh wow! I love guns! Check this out."

She pulled Crescent Rose from her back. "It looks like a pistol, right?"

The pilot nodded, "Well, you're a small girl, so-"

"WRONG!" She triggered the action, and Crescent deployed to its shotgun configuration, then extended to its sniper state, then unfolded to a six-foot war-scythe.

Steele yawned, "Hey, Cobalt. Check this out."

The pilot looked amazed. He held up a finger. "I got an idea."

He ran to his mech and flipped the ammo hopper open. "If I know sniper-scythes, that's a Nebula Type three, right? High-Impact receiver?"

"Actually, I made it myself. But yeah, I liked the Nebula Artificers' aesthetic, and I went high-impact, because-"

"Everything else just tickles 'em," they said in unison.

The pilot checked his surroundings for officers, then reached into the hopper and pulled out a live round. He held it up. "We use the same munitions."

Ruby had never been so excited in her life. "Oh my gosh! Is that a Schnee low-grain burn cabochon?"

The pilot nodded, eyes flaring with excitement.

Ruby rocked side to side in excitement. "I only get to use safety rounds at school. Can you fire some?"

The pilot cringed. "No. No, I cannot. I'd lose my saddle if I did that. But, uh…"

He checked his shoulders again, then tossed her the round. "If _you_ shot one off, they'd probably just give you a weekend of detention or something, right?"

A pre-recorded message played over the radio.

"The Perimeter is not breached. All units have fifteen minutes to proceed to fallback position one and give firing orders."

Steele and Cobalt turned and sprinted to their troop transport. The sudden commotion woke Weiss and startled Ruby. She hot potato'd the round back to the Paladin pilot and ran to catch up. She and Weiss jumped into the troop transport as its wheels spun out, and they sped to the safety of the wall.

With the wind messing up their hair, Ruby and Weiss looked like they would never, ever enlist.

Weiss huffed her exertion away, looked at the mud on her heel-boots, and said, "Wow, Ruby. This is just like you said. So _fun_."

"Sorry, Weiss."

"Ugh. I wonder what Blake's doing."

"I dunno, Weiss. She said she was going out."

"Ruby, everything is out."

"Maybe she was going on a date."

"I don't think so. She didn't take Yang with her."

"What?"

"Nevermind."

"But Yang dates boys."

"Does she?"

Ruby's eyes danced.

She realized, "Well… No. That's strange. She sure talks about it a lot, but she never does it."

"And let's face it, Ruby. Blake didn't want to go to the dance until Yang invited her. I think it's for real."

"I don't know, Weiss. My sister reeeeeealy likes boys."

"I think you should have an open mind, Ruby."

"I think you might be projecting, Weiss."

"Wow, Ruby. Really? Now you're making it weird."

The transport slowed through a gate and turned to park. They hopped out and ran up the wall, to the battlements. Ruby deployed her sniper-scythe through the rifle slat and sat into a firing stance.

Steele laid prone beside her with binoculars.

Ruby spotted motion cresting the hill they'd abandoned. She shouted, "Oh my gosh! There's something out there!"

"Yeah. That's red team," Steele mumbled, "Those poor, tormented souls."

Weiss peered out at the field and asked, "Where? I can't see anything. Ruby, describe it to me."

"I think it's a guy in a bobblehead Beowolf costume on an ATV."

"Really? A costume? Now that's just ridiculous."

Steele nudged Ruby for her attention. "Huntress, you have a designator?"

Ruby flipped her scope laser on.

"Sure do!"

"Cool. I'll talk to the cruiser. _Woglinde_ has a five second delay to target, so designate with a lead."

She leaned down into her scope and said, "On target. Call it."

Steele tapped his helmet mic on.

"Woglinde, this is Blue Company FO. I do NOT have a fire mission. Grid Aleph 3. Mark to Mark."

Woglinde called back, "Mission holding, Blue Company. Guns are occupied and you are not at priority."

Steele released his helmet mic. Cobalt handed out water bottles. They drank. They sat for ten minutes while the ATV trundled at them.

"So… Artillery?" Weiss asked.

"Nope," Steele said.

Ruby asked, "When they said that we're not priority, did they mean, like, _not_ , or not not?"

Cobalt mumbled, "Definitely not."

They all sat for another twenty minutes while the bobblehead on the ATV drove at them.

Ruby asked, "I did good though, right?"

Weiss sighed for attention.

Steele found a pebble on the battlement. He threw it at a lone fence post in the field. The hit had a satisfying thwack to it. Cobalt nodded appreciatively, and the soldiers spent the next few minutes throwing rocks at the post. Weiss made a pitiful attempt that she didn't repeat.

Ruby was too focused on the bobblehead. She warned, "He's gonna get us."

The ATV pulled up to the gate and stopped. The soldier in the bobblehead shouted, "I'm gonna getchya!"

Weiss had laid down on the ground.

She moaned, "Are we dead yet? Can we be dead now?"

Steele nodded down the line. "The gamemaster with the CO tells us."

They turned to look. A marine with a red helmet spoke to the Captain, who shouted, "Steele, Cobalt, the two huntresses, and everyone who is currently standing: You have ten minutes to fall back with me to line two. The rest of you are casualties."

They jumped up and ran. Fallback position two was on the far side of the highways, in the commercial district. Pedestrians stopped to take pictures of them. Steele and Cobalt waved and smiled. Ruby and Weiss sat for two hours and whined while demolitions experts pretended to drop the highways to stall the bobblehead man. As a plus, he now had to move on foot, since Beowolves would be distracted wreaking carnage in downtown.

When Weiss could sit no longer, she stood and leaned against a shop: From Dust Till Dawn. Ruby pressed her face to the glass and peered at the comic section in the back. Her eyes bulged. She tugged Weiss' sleeve.

"Weiss! Weiss, they have a new edition of-"

"No, Ruby," Weiss snapped.

"But Weiss, we're probably gonna be here a while. And I just want-"

"No!"

"I'll be quick!"

"Ruby, if I have to be bored, you have to be bored!"

"Fiiiiiine," Ruby grumbled.

At her side, Steele and Cobalt were engaged in a discussion on the finer points of women.

Steele said, "No, dude. Redheads. Okay?"

He counted on his fingers, "Pyrrha Nikkos."

"Of course," Cobalt said academically.

"Athena."

"No, that's cheating. They're basically the same."

"No, dude. _Blondes_ are all the same. You got Winter Schnee _and_ the Snow Queen, so I get two. And here's three, okay? Fola Merlot."

Ruby and Weiss glared at them.

Steele held his arms out. "What? You're not on his side, are you?"

Weiss snapped, "Winter is my _sister_!"

"Okay, but she _does_ look like the Snow Queen of Mantle. It's not just me, right?"

"Who cares? The Snow Queen is a myth. And besides, you can't just reduce people to their hair color. Looks are more about how you carry yourself and what you wear and how you speak."

Steel and Cobalt looked at each other. They laughed. Cobalt nudged Weiss. "You got someone in mind?"

"W-w-well, I mean…"

Ruby noticed a blush. She prodded, "Weiss? Do you?"

"Well, I mean, j-just as an example, if we were discussing objectively attractive traits- I mean, since the topic isn't about our subjective preferences, I could probably think of a viable candidate for-"

Ruby leaned in closer and said, "You've got a crush on a girl."

"I do not, Ruby! I was just going to say that Professor Glynda Goodwitch carries herself very well!"

Cobalt pantomimed throwing a bomb at Steele's feet. "Boom! Blonde!"

Steele sucked his teeth. "I gotta give you that one. That's worth two weeks of leave right there."

Weiss stomped her foot. "You're missing the point! Ruby, help me out, here. Looks aren't just about hair color, right?"

Ruby thought through everyone she'd seen. She decided, "Remember Roman Torchwick's henchman? That girl on the White Fang train? Neapolitan? With the different colored eyes and all the colors in her hair? I thought she looked cute. Not when she was trying to kill my sister. I wasn't like, 'Oh! Cute!' But, you know."

Steele nodded, "Yeah, no I see it. We have a girl like that in the fleet. Cobalt, remember the ensign on _Eidolon_?"

"Oh yeah. Huh. I dunno. I thought she was kind of weird. Gotta stick with one."

Over the slope of the street, the bobblehead Beowolf emerged as the soldier jogged at them.

Steele tapped his helmet mic on and called, " _Woglinde_ , this is Blue Company. New Fire Mission. Tar-"

The cruiser interrupted him.

"-Blue Company, Woglinde. Preface your orders with 'not!' Didn't you get the briefing?! And I am too busy to take your order. Stop asking."

Steele didn't snap anything back to them. His jaw clenched and he made an aggressive but meaningless gesture to show his frustration.

Ruby frowned, "He's gonna get us again."

The bobblehead shouted, "I'm gonna getchya again!"

Fallback position three covered only Vale's center. Steele and Cobalt stood at a street corner with Ruby and Weiss. Two blocks behind them, another pack of soldiers had retreated from Vale's other end. So Beacon Academy had fallen.

Cobalt leaned over to Ruby and Weiss to speak under his breath.

"We're supposed to call this the safe zone," he explained.

Steele finished, "But it's really called suicide square."

Weiss understood instantly.

She moaned, "Because everyone who made it here wishes they'd died."

"Yeah, this kinda sucks," Ruby said.

Her eyes lit up. "Oh! The Suck! I get it now!"

Steele and Cobalt laughed with her. They spent a few hours sitting. They watched the sun set. That long time to think did bad things to Cobalt. He'd realized the morbidity of the situation.

He said, "Dude. All of our friends are dead."

Steele nodded. "We're dead, too, man. There's no way we're getting out of this."

"Maybe we'll get artillery?"

"And then what? Every farm from here to the coast has been pillaged and trampled by the swarms. You get this far, you better make peace with your gods, man."

Cobalt pointed down the street and said, "Hey look."

There was the bobblehead Beowolf, still jogging.

Weiss whined, "This is so boooooooring."

Ruby shrugged, "At least we're not that guy."

Cobalt smiled, "What a champ."

Steele murmured, "Third time's a charm," and tapped his helmet mic.

"Woglinde, this is Blue Company. I do not have a new mission. FFO."

"Blue Company, Woglinde. Not FFO."

"Don't Send it."

"Not Sent."

Cobalt mouthed the count down from five.

Ruby flipped on her laser designator.

"I have to mark it, right?"

Steele shook his head. "Nope. FFO is Final Firing Orders. It's a preset. Vale's lost."

"Two. One…"

A flare fell from the sky and landed on the bobblehead Beowulf. The marine stopped, planted his hand on his knees, and promptly fell over from exhaustion.

Ruby felt excited. She asked, "Do we win?"

Weiss, head propped against the wall of a nightclub, closed her eyes and legitimately snored.

Steele shrugged. "I'm not sure. Should we get that guy some water?"

Over the radio, they heard the last pre-recorded message: "Simulation complete. All swarms are defeated. Vale survives."

Cobalt ripped off his helmet, slammed it on the ground and cheered. "WOO!"

Weiss startled awake.

Cobalt cupped his hands and shouted down the street, "IYAOYAS! OORAH!"

Ruby joined, "Hooray! We Win! I knew we could do it, Weiss!"

Weiss said, "Alright. Let's go home."

Ruby waved, "Bye Steele! Bye Cobalt! Sleep well!"

Cobalt laughed. "Yeah, if only. We're on guard duty till midnight."

"Ouch. Sorry. Well… Bye."

Weiss pulled her out of the awkward situation, and they started their trip back to Beacon. At the bus stop, Weiss tried to sleep against Ruby's shoulder. Ruby kept lookout. It was she who noted the troop transport driving past them, and Blake sitting in its back among a group of faunus.


	30. Deadly Nightshade

Blake 'Shadowcat' Belladonna climbed into the troop transport and found her seat beside Umbra. Following the routines and rituals of familiarity, she glanced everyone over, plopped onto the bench, and flipped open a book to ignore them. The truck pulled onto the road, and she started the final chapter of _Crusade_.

She didn't want to look them in the eye. That was too familiar. She felt her emotions balancing on the bladed edge of indecision, felt herself splitting in two with each second of hesitation, balanced between these two worlds. That limbo wasn't a place she could stay in. People were increasingly noticing she didn't fit. Humanity saw her as a faunus; And she could tell, in the weight of their glares, that even her oldest friends were now wondering if her ears were fake.

She looked up. At her side, Umbra smiled, coy and cocky.

He said, "I was a little worried you wouldn't join us."

She shrugged, "I almost didn't. Perry, Batteries."

She hadn't expected to see the young revolutionary here. But she knew he'd have some. Perry looked far too young for the job; Shadowcat had been far too young. It was only from her distance that the world's cruelty came into perspective.

Perry tossed her two rechargeables. She clicked her field light on for the first time in years. She held it in her mouth and tried to bury herself in _Crusade_. Professor Oobleck wanted her book report on his desk by the end of the week.

She felt Umbra lean close to her, his breath on her shoulder as he read over it.

"Why are you always reading, Blake?"

Around the lamp she muttered, "It keeps me calm."

"What's it about?"

She glanced to the verse they'd interrupted her on. Desecration 10:20. She read aloud.

"'The suffering of the people was great, and they saw their inheritance around them, the Grimm darkness closing, the black sun burning in the night. Humanity wailed. They turned skyward and prayed for angels to avenge them. The gods were unanimous in their decision. 'We have drawn before from the purgatorial souls, and allowed them penance for serving humanity. We shall indenture another.' And so a soul was reformed into the Angel of Light and cast down to the Remnant.'"

Blake paused. "Hang on, there's a footnote."

She sighed and flipped to the index. "'The word here translated as 'Angel' has a possible alternate translation as demon, devil, ogre, or troll.'"

She thought about it, then scribbled in the margin, "What could go wrong? Q Prof."

She looked up from the book. Everyone's jaws hung slack in amazement.

Perry stammered, "B-Blake… You've never…"

Even Umbra looked a little bug-eyed. "I don't think I've ever heard you read before."

She shrugged. "I guess I've changed."

Across from her, Verdan looked miffed. She could guess that Verdan's loyalty to Adam, and Umbra's loyalty to Shadowcat, were a cause for drama in the group.

Verdan nodded upward at her. "What book is that?"

She held it up, and everyone tilted their heads to read the spine.

Verdan sneered, " _Crusade?_ That's a human book."

"Yes."

She glared at Verdan, to show him how she'd changed, that she was no longer afraid. Or at least, that she could fake not being afraid. Amethyst leaned her head against Verdan, trying to draw attention to herself- to her closeness to Verdan. She was responding to Shadowcat's attention. Blake understood that her friends had changed, too; They were a couple now. Aqua sat past Amethyst, arms folded and pretending to ignore them.

Amethyst's eyes flicked from Blake to Umbra. She smiled and cooed, "Uh oh, Umbra. Blake's settling down. Next thing we know she'll be paying taxes and wearing a _ring_."

Umbra shifted his weight.

Shadowcat tilted her head and leveled her eyes, as if to say, "Really? Seriously?"

Everyone laughed.

"Glad to have you back," Umbra whispered.

Then, louder, "Seriously, though, what's with the book?"

"Seriously," she retorted. "It keeps me calm."

Verdan asked, "What about the book _I_ gave you, Blake?"

Amethyst cast him an annoyed look.

Shadowcat folded _Crusade_ closed in her lap. She knew they'd get as many words out of her as they could. She wouldn't be reading.

She said, "Yeah. Yeah, I read it. When I first got to Vale, I didn't know what to do next. And I guess I kinda stood out. I was standing on the street by a fish cart, trying to figure out how to nab some. And then this guy with a cane comes by, buys some fish, and hands it to me. And then he leaves."

Perry looked terrified. "Was he Retinue? A Specialist?"

Verdan shushed him. "Let her tell it."

Shadowcat continued, "So I followed him. Turns out, he's the headmaster at Beacon."

"Ozpin?"

Shadowcat nodded. "A week later, I was sitting on a shuttle full of kids my age, some faunus, too. We were all on our way to Beacon academy. I was accepted. The shuttle docked, and I could smell the ocean breeze, and there were people handing me free stuff and books and the key to my dorm… Believe it or not, that was when I started having second thoughts. I thought… What am I doing here? Is this who I am?"

Shadowcat saw the look everyone was giving her.

She sighed. "Don't get your hopes up. I told myself I couldn't change my mind so soon. Not yet. Not until I'd really breathed the air and taken in the sights. Then I got off the shuttle and realized… There's no way. I don't belong here. How long would it really take for someone to recognize me? I thought for sure that I'd be arrested any moment. I'd just stupidly walked into a trap, right? I panicked. But I was up in Beacon, and the transport left. It wasn't like I could run away. So I stuck my nose in the book you gave me, and didn't look up again until I walked right into Weiss Schnee."

Amethyst guffawed, then fell into hiccupping chuckles. They laughed like hyenas. Umbra only stared, mouth agape. "Smooth," he chided.

"I know. So I said hi without, you know, lingering. Tried to act normal."

"How'd that go?"

Shadowcat blushed, remembering, and admitted, "I think I literally quoted her dossier to her. I didn't know what to say."

Imagining that was too much for them. They all laughed harder, doubling over.

Aqua parodied her. "Uh, Weiss Schnee, Heiress to SDC, Uh Controversial Labor practices."

Blake rolled her eyes. "It wasn't like I could just off her right there, right? And she was strapped, so I wasn't even sure I'd be able to do it. Not without the team."

Her heart beat double time. She was leaning out of limbo, but not ready to commit. She swallowed. "So I ended the conversation and wandered off. Not too slow, not too fast, and kept my nose in the book."

Umbra summarized, "And that's how it's been since you left us?"

Blake wobbled her head indecisively, a trait she'd picked up from Ruby. "Well… Technically, I have matured into a young huntress," she said like Weiss.

"You read out loud," Verdan noted.

Perry didn't talk. He kept staring at her as if she'd performed a miracle. It made her uncomfortable.

"Perry, we've been friends for years. Why are you looking at me like that?"

Umbra chuckled.

Verdan explained. "Maybe you've forgotten, Blake, but you're basically Pyrrha Nikkos for our kind."

Shadowcat shook her head dismissively. "I know for a fact that I'm nothing like Pyrrha."

Verdan noted, "First name basis."

"I kinda see the resemblance," Umbra grinned.

Amethyst cooed, "You've both got a thing for blondes. She likes Jaune Arc, and you've got… What's her name?" She eyed the suggestion to Umbra.

He didn't answer.

Shadowcat- Blake- Blushed harder. Not as she would with friends, but in actual embarrassment.

Slowly, she turned to Umbra and whispered, "How long _exactly_ have you been watching me?"

Umbra tried to lie. Before the words passed his lips, he shrugged and admitted, "Two months."

"Adam told you to."

"Adam told us to bring you in."

"This is a trap?"

"No. I told Adam he can do it himself." Umbra glared at Verdan as he said it.

No reaction from that side of the truck. Blake saw the factions and their division. She leaned in to Umbra, so her lips were obscured against his cheek. He'd grown a beard. It felt nothing like Yang.

Blake whispered, "If you told Adam off, then why bring me into this?"

Verdan and Amethyst smiled as they watched. Exchanged whispering had long been a game friends and lovers played in the wild. Umbra returned the discreteness, cheek-to-cheek, his lips against her ear.

"I've been doing this a lot longer than you, Blake. I've seen what happens to people who don't get their closure. The guy who killed my dad? I didn't have peace of mind when he died. I had to sneak into Mantle Memorial Park and dig him up before I felt whole again."

Their heads traded angles and she hissed, "You knew I couldn't turn this down. And you knew this was a trap. All you've offered me is martyrdom."

Umbra chuckled. He leaned back in to her. "No. You're going in first. Make it quiet. The moment we hear anything, we'll go in hard. I want you to get out as soon as the fighting starts. Run away and live your life, Blake."

Shadowcat asked, "Suppose I don't want to."

Umbra patted her shoulder. "Trust me, Blake. You've got something with your team that's really special. Just don't let Blondie break your heart."

The truck lurched to a stop. Shadowcat stowed her book and pulled a mask of Grimm bone over her head. She closed her eyes, and for a moment, wondered what team RWBY was doing in her life. She'd prayed for a better life. Was this heaven's blessing? Or would her biography have a footnote about her mistranslation?

Everyone piled out of the truck and finished their functions checks. The muted metallic clicks of Ballistic Chain Scythes thrilled her. Three blocks away, in Atlas' "Safe Zone," lay the embassy suites, and Noir Soleil.


	31. Witching Hour

Visitors describe Vale's night sky as diamonds on black silk. City heat ripples the silk, and the diamonds dance. That same effect, heat scrambling the darkness, disguised the black aircraft circling over downtown.

Winter's Tiltjet had all the electronics they needed to spy on Soleil's quarters. Agent Hikari of the Special Retinue Service leaned over Orchid's shoulder and watched the monitors.

She nudged him. "Anything?"

Orchid shook his head. "All quiet. I'm just listening to these two idiots."

He gestured at the marines guarding the embassy's service entrance.

Hikari pointed to a screen. "Soleil?"

"Sleeping."

"What are the marines talking about?"

Orchid switched their audio to a speaker.

Light rain pattered against their parkas and loosened Vale's topsoil.

Cobalt asked, "Hey, Steele? You ever feel like you're being watched?"

Steele shook his head. "Nope."

Hikari sighed, "Nevermind. Soleil?"

Orchid flicked switches. Soleil's room had light classical music playing on an old gramophone. Orchid increased the volume until they could hear the meaning in every note, the record spinning on its tray, and faintly, the steady rhythm of Noir's breathing. A loud tap, tap, tap sounded against the window.

Orchid moved a joystick. The camera slowly panned to the window, where a raven stood and looked in. Tap, tap, tap.

Noir sniffed, rolled over, and continued sleeping.

Hikari looked at the service entrance. One of the marines had left his post to shine a flashlight on the ground. Orchid switched their audio on.

Steele pushed his boot into the mud.

 _Squelch._

He pulled it out.

 _Sluuuurp._

He pushed it in.

 _Squelch_.

He pulled it out.

 _Sluuuuurp._

Cobalt sighed, "Steele, what are you doing, man?"

"Dude. Mud makes footprints, just like snow."

"Those are your footprints, Steele? What are you, size four? These are like a little girl's feet, man."

"Screw you, bro. I'm like twelve inches. And so are my feet."

Cobalt laughed, "Whatever, man. Seriously, though. These, uh… Hold on. Those aren't your footprints. They're inside your footprints. Look. Put the light here."

Steele moved his flashlight over to Cobalt's point. "Yeah? So?"

"So think about it, dude. If you stepped on someone else's footprint, it wouldn't be there anymore. Someone had to step here after you did."

Steele looked at the footprint. He looked at Cobalt. "This is a joke, right? Like, you're just trying to make me think I'm haunted. This is revenge for making you watch that ghost video."

"Dude, no, I-"

Hikari sighed and flipped their audio off. Winter appeared at her side.

She snapped, "Rewind that."

Orchid sent the footage spinning backwards. Three minutes ago, Steele had wandered away from his post.

"Stop. Play. Slowly."

He did. Steele and Cobalt's inane conversation played out in rude gestures. Their heads turned to a sound. Steele walked into the darkness to investigate. He wasted ten seconds shining a flashlight, then walked back to the door with Cobalt and shrugged.

Winter ordered, "Again. Slower."

They watched frame-by-frame until Orchid caught it and paused. He zoomed in on Steele's shadow. There, barely represented by the pixels, was a single faunus eye, reflecting the city lamp-posts.

Steele had walked back with Shadowcat crouching in his shadow, their bodies as close as they could be. When he stopped at the door and turned, her pirouette carried her just through the edge of Steele's vision, behind Cobalt's body, and out of the camera's sight. In the hallway, the interior camera had her for three frames before she disappeared behind a window curtain.

"That's our girl," Hikari hummed.

Tap, tap, tap, came from Soleil's room. They looked at the raven.

Winter growled, "That damn bird might wake him up before she gets there."

The classical music stopped.

Orchid jerked the joystick. The camera slowly panned back to the gramophone. There, Shadowcat stood beside the turntable, holding the Vinyl disc. She slipped it into its sheathe and replaced it on the shelf.

In the tiltjet, White slid a freeze crystal into his laser rifle and cocked it into the refractor chamber. He didn't like Winter's side job, and he didn't hide that on his face. Cherry dragged her combat knife over a burn crystal like a whetstone, gathering small flecks of fire on the blade.

But Winter hadn't given the order to move yet. She wanted to see the deed done before it was punished.

In Soleil's room, Shadowcat sat upon his bed with a heavy thud, and Soleil slowly woke, then froze, as he saw her Grimm bone mask and glowing eyes in the dark.

Through the bone, she said, "Don't worry. I'll make this quick, so you can return to a peaceful sleep."

"That's very generous," Noir grumbled.

Blake shifted her weight. "I've learned that everyone is the hero of their own story. I want to know yours."

Noir cleared his throat. "That book in your hands."

"Crusade."

"Good. Society should never separate its warriors and scholars."

"Why did you do..." Blake shrugged. "Everything?"

"You won't like my answer."

"That's for me to decide."

Soleil shifted under his blankets until he was comfortable. "If you had asked me at the time, I would have told you that I was on a personal mission. I loved someone and I was willing to do anything to save her. And I did. But I have since learned that were are mere slaves to Fate. I was an agent of Karma, sent to punish your sins, Shadowcat. And now I am being punished because I clearly did not do enough."

"I have a name."

"You are a monster. Do you know that it wasn't your torture that broke you?"

"You're provoking me. It's not going to work."

"She was horrified, of course. But between sessions, we allowed her to speak with one of your religious types. A lion faunus who read fortunes."

"If you aren't going to answer my question truthfully-"

"- You asked, and I'm answering, Shadowcat. You were born a monster, you will live as a monster, you will die a monster, and you deserve it, you wretched beast. You are beneath even faunus kind, and they feel that with an instinct greater than even a mother's love."

"My mother died at Chernobyl under your torture. She died protecting me from you. Your lies don't phase me, Soleil."

Noir glared at her. Then he licked his lips, chapped from the dryness of air conditioning. He grunted and shimmied his hips under the covers.

He sighed. "If you'll take any advice, then heed this: Don't get old. The longer you last, the more everything hurts. Now do what you must."

Shadowcat stood. The Winter Soldiers recognized Gambol Shroud, her Variant BCS, strapped across her back. But she didn't reach for the handle.

She trembled.

And in a wavering voice, she said, "I didn't come here to kill you. I came here to show you that I've moved on. I have an identity built of things you've never touched or seen. I am a product of _my_ actions, not yours. When people ask me who I am and what I've done, and why I am the way I am… I no longer have to say your name. Shadowcat was a monster conceived between you and Adam Taurus! And given life by the fearmongers in your media! She isn't a girl I recognize. I won't play the part you've made for me."

Noir grumbled, "You already have, Shadow-"

"-My name is Blake Belladonna! And I won't be your monster anymore!"

She removed her Grimm mask and threw it at his feet.

Noir looked at it. He grunted. "But you did come here, to me, compelled by my acts."

Blake hissed, "I won't linger. You don't matter to me."

"Grant an old man one last wish. You see, I very much _want_ to matter."

Soleil's sheets erupted as feathers, and Blake hit the drywall behind her so hard that she didn't stop. Her body passed through the tile wall in the kitchen, and came to rest against the countertop. She didn't move for a few seconds. In that time, Soleil sat up from his bed and seized two Dust crystals from his nightstand. In his other arm, he held a disposable burst gun. He tossed it aside, loaded a single-use hand-canon, and power-walked to her.

Blake had time to regain her breath, sit up, and take the full blunt of his next shot. The force scraped her across the cabinets and jammed her into the corner. Still, her aura held. Soleil reached into his cabinets and drew another revolver.

In the tiltjet, Hikari sneered at Winter. "Suppose he kills her. What then, Specialist?"

"Don't be naive. The Shadow Pact will come to her rescue soon."

Orchid mused, "You set Umbra free. He's not stupid. He ran."

Cherry shook her head. "If they wanted her back, they'd be in that room already."

White shouldered his rifle and eyeballed his sights, murmuring: "Maybe Blake is to them what Noir is to us."

They heard a thud, and Blake screamed.

Orchid commented, "He's knuckling her ribs in. Old habits."

Soleil dragged her to the kitchen's center and hit her kidneys until something cracked.

He shouted, "Tell me more about your identity, Shadowcat! How is it holding up to reality? Do you feel strong?"

She sobbed. He rested his knee on her broken rib.

The desperation in her scream was too familiar. Hikari was running through Furburg again, a light machine gun jumping in her hands, ordnance shaking the ground, the city burning and wailing.

White exhaled, long and slow. Cherry swayed side to side.

Winter, her jaw clenched, whispered, "They _will_ come."

And then a lot of things happened that didn't make sense, and didn't need to. The raven on the window tap, tap, tapped, smashed the pane, and became Raven Branwen. The huntress drew her blade, a gravitational effect shimmering on its edge, and threw the entire apartment sideways with her swipe.

She landed on Soleil, against the far wall of his kitchen, her sword pinning him there through the heart, like a bug in a collection.

Gunshots sounded around the complex. Five Ballistic Chain Scythes found purchase in the walls. The Shadow Pact swung through the windows and strafed the kitchen with gunfire, emptying their magazines to annihilate everything.

Raven waved her hand at the wall. The camera feeds all distorted.

Orchid tapped on his screen. "Huh. She's doing that thing again."

Raven walked at the wall. She walked through it, and the visual distortions ended. She'd vanished.

In the tiltjet, Hikari pointed at the Shadow Pact and ordered, "Count 'em."

Orchid smiled, "Five! That's all five!"

"Quiet the engines and bring us in."

The craft swooped to the rooftop and they piled out the sides. Hikari anchored a cable to the rooftop and ran down the building. Upside down and ten stories up was great fun. Killing her enemies would be even better. She reached a window and peeked through. Inside, the world's most wanted bunched up around Blake. They were arguing. One pointed to a wrist watch emphatically.

Hikari whispered into her mic, "In position."

"White, marking Iron Eyes."

"Orchid. Chubby Cub."

Cherry slid down the far side of Hikari's window and whispered, "I've got Mirage."

Hikari aimed down her sights. "I have Boy King. On three. One. Two."

They laid fire through the windows. Hikari's target, Umbra, turned to modern art. The others reacted instantly. Shadowcat leaped, feline agility and aural power thrusting her out the window. She soared past Hikari, so close their eyes met. Hikari could see in her the fear that gives men wings. Blake boomeranged her BCS to a street lamp and swung away from the battle.

The shooting waned, and Cherry called, "I don't see Mirage!"

Hikari threw a paint bomb in. The soft pop splattered the walls.

Orchid called, "They're leaving! They're chasing Shadowcat!"

Hikari jumped away from the wall to see around the corner. The last of them had made it a full block, and swung out of view.

Hikari shimmied back and swung into the room. She called, "Orchid. Set off the embassy alarm. They won't come back."

She barred the door. It wouldn't take long for Vale PD, Fleet MPs, and the state department to arrive and demand jurisdiction.

Cherry examined Noir's corpse. White stood over Umbra's corpse. Orchid was by the bed. He pocketed the old man's diary, then started flipping through his vinyl's. Winter had entered somehow, silent and mysterious. She stood at the room's center and stared at the window, where Raven had been a raven.

Hikari crept to her side, then rocked on her heels. "Hey."

Winter turned her chin slightly, to acknowledge the greeting.

Hikari reported, "Winter. We didn't lose anybody."

Winter nodded.

"I hope you understand, this really couldn't have gone better."

Winter nodded.

"Good. You remember our deal?"

Winter turned to Hikari. "Blake Belladonna will make a fine teammate for Weiss," she admitted.

Hikari snapped, "Great. Can we get back to our mission, now?"

Winter pointed at the window. "What was Blackbird doing here? Why would she care about Soleil?"

Hikari let her rifle rest on its sling, and gestured to Noir's corpse. "He wasn't a popular guy."

"When did she meet him?"

"His reputation precedes him."

"How? She would have to know someone in the Retinue. Or in the White Fang. Blackbird has no history with either."

"She's a Huntress. Vale Rangers, right? Maybe she walked across one of his crimes." Hikari realized her agitation was showing. Adrenaline itched up her spine. She pulled gum from her kit and chewed.

Winter looked pensive. Then her head snapped up, and she drew her saber towards the kitchen. Hikari followed her gaze. Shadowcat was still there, curled in the corner, face contorted in fear, holding up her arms to shield herself.

Hikari relaxed. "Stand down, Specialist. It's just her semblance. When she gets spooked, she drops these illusions."

Winter advanced into the kitchen and stood over it. Shadowcat didn't look like a monster: She was just a terrified, sixteen year old girl. Winter jabbed the image with her saber. It flickered, then vanished.

She'd seen weirder things that night. She sheathed her sword and looked back to the window. Resuming her conversation, she realized, "Chernobyl. Raven Branwen was on Team STRQ. They went to Chernobyl. Qrow Branwen said that his sister was unsettled by that place. Soleil himself said that he'd done something there. Something that would forever make Shadowcat an enemy to humanity, if I remember correctly. That's where Raven learned about Soleil."

Hikari chewed faster.

Winter turned to face her. "Raven, Shadowcat, and Soleil. Who else was at Chernobyl?"

Everyone turned to Winter. Hikari gestured around them.

Winter raised an eyebrow. "Everyone in this unit? Possibly our Woman in Red?"

Hikari cautiously allowed herself to remember the shanties.

Orchid calmly recited, "There were ten thousand faunus." He went back to reading the track list from a record sheathe.

Winter turned to him, and Hikari took the break to exhale and let her face quiver.

Winter asked, "Did any survive?"

Orchid gestured out the window. "The Shadow Pact. Shadowcat. Her mother, Nightshade. There was a rumor that Little Bull was there."

Winter pursed her lips. "Nightshade. Khali Belladonna."

She turned to Hikari, who straightened. Winter asked, "Nightshade died at Furburg. Right?"

Hikari nodded, remembering _Woglinde's_ ordnance, the searing heat, the sound like a god left his fork in the microwave. "Yeah. Ordnance got her."

"Was there a body?"

"There was nothing."

Winter took a step into Hikari's space. She wasn't trying to intimidate. She was trying- and this was an awkward expression on Winter- to sympathize. She reached for Hikari, hesitated, and finally set a hand on her arm. She looked Hikari in the eye. "Tell me what happened there."

Hikari shrugged. "They were exporting gold. A lot of it. We were supposed to infiltrate and find out what was going on. We got spotted."

"Gold?"

"Silver. Gold. Spices that don't grow in that climate. Plants that don't exist." She shrugged again. "There were no farms, no mines… but they had… They had more wealth than I'd ever seen in my life. We found Elysium. And we burned it."

Winter's porcelain face hid her thoughts. She said, "Nightshade had a ceremonial position in the White Fang: Queen of the Hunt."

"Yeah."

Winter nodded, thought a crazy idea over, then retracted her touch, as if steeling herself for rejection. She asked, "The Queen of the Hunt is responsible for Desecrating the Tower of Man."

Hikari tried to make sense of it, but gave up. "What?"

Winter gestured to Soleil's corpse. " _Third Crusade_ \- The book Noir gave you. It's a collection of Faunus oral traditions."

Hikari shook her head. "I don't understand where you're going with this."

Winter repeated, "Are we absolutely certain that Nightshade died _before_ Mountain Glenn?"


	32. End of the Line

Blake landed on her knees and skidded across cobblestone. She pushed herself up by an arm and spit blood.

Her side cramped around the broken rib. In the wild, she'd be dead. Here, in Vale, she had hope. She had to keep moving. Someone would find her and help her. Her scroll rumbled in her pocket and announced, "Aura depleted. Aura depleted. Aura-" She slapped the distress signal, then again to silence it.

She heard swishing in the air above her. Skin slithered against ribbons, and shoes clicked onto the street around her. She looked up. The Shadow Pact had found her. Verdan stood at the lead, with Amethyst as his second. Aqua and Perry stood father back.

Blake understood, by their looks, that they were not friendly.

Verdan smirked. "Umbra's dead. Nobody protecting you now, Blake."

Blake trembled.

Verdan pointed at her. "He liked you, you know. When Adam told us to bring you in, Umbra told him off." He smirked, "But I didn't. You don't get to leave us, Blake. You have responsibilities. You're the Queen of the Hunt."

Blake forced her stomach to settle. She growled, "All that means is that Adam has his way with me."

Verdan shouted, "You left us! Do you understand that? Our kinship, our comradery, an unbroken line of huntresses before you- all willing to die for a cause! And you _ran_! You worthless coward! What are you even doing in Vale? Pretending you belong at a school? Do you want to be a human? Is that it? You think you can tie a bow in your hair and they'll treat you like a person? Maybe if you walk and talk right, they'll let you sleep inside and sip the wine before them, right? Or, what, you just like their books better?"

The insults added to her injuries. She cried.

"I read _everything_. You know that."

"I don't believe for a second that you read the book I gave you. So you've got two choices right now. We take you to Adam, or you die."

Blake dragged her knees under her. A show of strength was all that could buy her time now. She had to stand. She locked eyes with Verdan, and for a moment remembered what Shadowcat was like. She had to be the monster for a second longer. Her tears dried. Her pain dulled. Death was acceptable. Death came from within her and spread to everything she touched.

And as easily as ever, she stood. Verdan's posture shifted from berating to acknowledging.

Blake's gut lurched. Her knees felt week. She raised her hand, forcing her way through the pain of the broken rib, and grabbed Gamble Shroud's hilt over her shoulder.

Her old friends tensed into fighting stances and flicked their weapons into firing mode.

She couldn't take them on. She couldn't escape. She wanted to see her friends again. Her new friends. Her real friends. She could bear this pain with Yang cuddling her and Weiss reading and Ruby bringing cookies and milk.

Autumn sighed against her. She was alone. But she had wanted that- to be a singular person, separated from that other spirit within her. She was making decisions, and Shadowcat was only helping now.

Blake tightened her grip.

To Verdan, she said, "Half an hour from now, when I shall again and forever reindue that hated personality, I know how I shall sit shuddering and weeping in my chair, or continue, with the most strained and fearstruck ecstasy of listening, to pace up and down this room, my last earthly refuge, and give ear to every sound of menace."

Breathing was harder. She had to stop and catch up.

Amethyst drawled, "What the-"

"Let her finish," Verdan snapped.

Breathing hurt.

Blake sucked in air and asked, "Will Shadowcat die upon the scaffold? Or will she find courage to release herself at the last moment? God knows; I am careless; this is my true hour of death, and what is to follow concerns another than myself. Here then, as I lay down the pen and proceed to seal up my confession, I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll… To an end!"

She drew Gambol Shroud. The BCSs rattled. Bullet casings sang on the cobblestone.

She was saved by a wall of ice. The bullets sprinkled it with impacts, and Blake turned to see her friend Weiss Schnee down an alleyway. She'd cast a freeze crystal from her rapier.

A motor roared behind her, and just over her head flew a flash of black and yellow, chrome wheels spinning in the air. Blake looked up. Yang's aviator glasses reflected Blake's shocked face. The bike passed over the ice wall, and someone caught it by the wrong end.

The sound of fists and pain followed. Another spray of bullets shattered the ice wall. The motorbike carried on, Aqua ragdolled and dragging behind it. Yang was in the fight, bobbing and weaving through a melee with Amethyst and Verdan. Blake leaned to join, but Weiss grabbed her and heaved them both into the alley.

A high impact receiver reported from down the street, and Amethyst was knocked to her back.

She sneered. "Training rounds? You're dead, kid."

Blake drooled blood and begged, "Weiss! They'll kill her!"

Ruby fired again, suppressing Amethyst as she tried to stand.

Yang pressed her advance against Verdan. He smiled. She had no idea number of men he'd killed in close quarters. Blake knew. She grabbed Weiss by the shoulder and pushed her at the fight.

Amethyst dodged the next of Ruby's shots and flipped onto her feet. A spotlight lit the street, and she looked up to see one of Atlas' warships accelerating into position. She cast a look at Verdan, locked in fighting, and ran.

Weiss stopped short of entering the melee as if it was a dance floor. Yang's strikes and parries were elegant and involved. Verdan's zone control and positioning left Weiss no entry point. She rattled the revolver action on her rapier and aimed it at them. "Stop! Or I'll-"

Verdan found his in. It was so smooth and sudden that no one caught it. But he'd gripped Yang's feet and lifted her from the ground. Weiss backpedaled in panic and shouted, "Let her go!"

He squeezed, growling, and his aura burned over his arms.

Blake's heart stopped. She couldn't watch. She clamped her eyes shut and tried to will it all away.

Then Yang croaked, "Ghk. Yeah. Harder."

She looked again. Yang was holding up her hand- her thumb and forefinger pulled tight into a ring. "Just like- akh. That."

Verdan's growl turned to confusion. He renewed the effort. His aura blazed as he poured it into the murder. But he didn't know, and Blake had forgotten, about Yang's semblance.

She was absorbing his expended aura. In a single motion, she gripped him under the armpit, overpowered him with his own strength, and threw him into the sky.

Verdan was someone else's problem now.

Ruby's footfalls made it down the street. She panted, "Good work, Team! Yang, how'd you get here so fast? Look, the good guys are here!"

She looked up through the spotlight and waved at the cruiser.

Yang turned to Blake.

And Blake saw her colder than she'd ever been before. Yang marched at Blake, grabbed her lapels, and dragged her to her feet.

Blake couldn't stop her lip from trembling. "Yang?"

Yang pulled a paper from her pocket, Noir's crumpled up dossier, and showed it to Blake. "Tell me you didn't do it."

Blake trembled. Her tears flowed. She felt an overwhelming gratitude that Yang was alive, and a perilous terror that Yang wanted nothing to do with her.

"Tell me you didn't do it, Blake!"

She didn't answer.

"Blake! You said you left them because you didn't want to kill anymore!"

Blake tried to adjust her feet. Her rib punished her. She winced, and Yang's sympathy was greater than her wrath. Her grip adjusted, and she held Blake softer, closer, in a hug.

Yang whispered, "You made me promise that I would never hurt someone like that. You believe I didn't hurt Mercury on purpose because you made me promise, Blake. Now I need to hear it from you."

Blake hugged her back, then gripped her, furious and remorseful.

She wanted to be free of Shadowcat, to make her own decisions and only call upon those heartless skills when needed. But Shadowcat wasn't done with Blake. She dug her claws into Yang's back, constricted her ambivalent to the complaining rib. And into her ear, she growled, "Fine. I didn't avenge my mother. I didn't kill the man who made her beg and dance and whore for him. I didn't punish the filth that put thousands of faunus through the worst hell a person can experience. Everyone in that camp looked out for me, Yang. They died for me! They abandoned all shame and spared no expense to keep me fed and clothed and safe and hidden from that monster! And do you know how I repaid them, Yang?! I couldn't do it! I couldn't do it because I'm still scared of him! He's dead, and I'm still scared! All I feel is fear!"

She had at least shared her pain finally, and with someone she knew would care. Yang didn't try to pull her off, nor push her away and cry 'monster.' Her wounds, within and without, were laid bare. She'd told the truth, wholly, about who she was and what she thought of herself. And in Yang's eyes, she saw nothing but sympathy. Yang renewed her hug and answered, "I don't want you to be afraid, Blake. I don't want you to be in pain."

Blake's answer was lost in another loud noise.

The ground shook so jarringly that buildings collapsed. Tank engines encircled the street and a swarm of gunships swooped into rotation overhead.

A huge beast of steel cracked the street where it landed, and the whole team fell prone. It looked like a giant Paladin, but when it turned and faced them, Blake saw "Crusader" written across its chest. The massive mecha levelled two cannons with bores the size of their bodies.

It announced with the voice of a god, "Yang Xiao Long. Drop your weapons. You are now a prisoner of Atlas."


	33. A Conspiracy of Raven's

Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon, stood atop his tower and looked over the Emerald City of Vale. The office clockworks ticked away time, and he remembered a very long gone time, when he'd sketched this image on the wall of a hut. Now the vision twinkled before him in the night. There was another vision, one he never dared put to pen, of darkness covering the Vale. Humanity had never been so close to extinction, and so unaware of their condition. Somewhere in this vision made real, a scarlet phantom was finding the discontent in each and every relationship. When she called upon that strife, the whole society would tear itself apart. And the Grimm would smell the chaos.

They needed time. Ironwood's machines could bring them that time. Or perhaps Winter could find this Woman in Red and destroy her. Or Pyrrha Nikkos could take the powers. Or, as a last resort… They had Ruby.

Ozpin saw a glimmer in the window; light reflected from behind him, and he turned to see raven Branwen.

He'd played many parts in his time. Most recently, an instructor to the next generation. But, seeing Raven Branwen again, he remembered her first bright-eyed entrance to his academy. Maybe he'd played this part for too long.

Now, as on her last visit, Raven wore the bones of Grimm, filthy with blood.

Ozpin squared his shoulders to greet her, and saw the light held in her hands. She had a raw burn crystal, its fragile shell shimmering as she squeezed it in her fist. She could crush it and kill them both.

She wanted to talk first. "I just watched Ironwood cart my daughter off to his flying prison."

Ozpin gestured to the stadium. "She mauled another student and violated her parole."

"Did someone order her to?"

Ozpin cocked his head at Raven. "You know, Ironwood thinks she's becoming like you. He says your… dispositions are heritable."

Raven folded her arms. "I wonder who gave him that idea."

Ozpin waited for her to settle down. The resentment and fury in her tone was as fragile as the crystal in her hand.

He hummed, "Qrow's brotherly instincts tell him this all began when you tumbled into Chernobyl's mineshaft. If only he had-"

"He blames himself," she snapped, "Because it lets him believe that his actions change the outcome of his life."

"Perhaps. But that doesn't make him wrong. When you fell into that mine, you said there was something down there with you."

Her posture stiffened. The one thing that ever scared her _always_ scared her.

He continued, "A second team of huntsmen returned to the mine. Do you know what they found down there?"

Raven didn't answer.

Ozpin said, "Nothing."

Raven snorted. "What a relief. And here I thought it was something."

"It was. Clearly. But when they went looking for it, it wasn't there."

She chided, "Maybe it left."

And there lay Ozpin's point. "Maybe it left… with _you_. Everyone has an aura, Raven, even the proletariat- even a tree or a dog. All ten-thousand of those faunus souls, all of their anguish, the despair of their auras should have imprinted upon the Dust in that mine. But the surveyors that came after you couldn't find a trace of it. That was always your greatest flaw, Raven: You were too willing to bear the suffering of others."

Raven's off-hand clenched, then softened.

She said, "That's an interesting hypothesis. But maybe I just had bad guidance, Headmaster."

Ozpin walked to his desk and found his coffee mug. He sipped, and gestured to a vanity by the clockworks- though he knew she would decline.

Addiction sated, he noted, "When you first abandoned your husband and daughter, you came to me for counsel. And you described to me the inner functions of the reactor. You detailed how it was that the faunus mechanics tricked the sensors so that the human operators would increase yield to dangerous levels. You said, 'They just wanted to die and be done with it.' But when did you study Dust reactors? Where did you learn anything of the conditions in the camp? You know things even the Schnees do not. And you weren't even there. It all makes sense, however, if you inherited the knowledge of the people who were."

Raven didn't answer.

Ozpin checked the clockwork gears, reckoning the time. "And what was it that brought you to Vale tonight? Why choose now of all moments to kill Noir Soleil? Yes, I know about that. You were there just in time to rescue one of my students: Blake Belladonna. But what is her relation to _you_? I can see none. The one thing that has ever compelled you is motherly love, in a strange form. You went very far out of your way to save Yang in Mountain Glenn. And then you went very far out of your way for Blake Belladonna. It's completely nonsensical… Unless you have inherited the camp's affection for her."

Raven enunciated, "Affection? I don't think you understand what you did to me, Ozpin."

"I offered you a choice, and you took it."

"I trusted you."

He leveled his tone and asserted, "What's done is done, Raven."

She growled, "Release. Yang."

"I don't have authority over the Atlessian military."

"No more lies, Ozpin. General James Ironwood answers to you."

"We _cooperate_ , Raven."

"Then what did he give you in exchange for my daughter?"

"His _continued_ cooperation," Ozpin grumbled.

Raven walked to the window and pointed at Ironwood's fleet. Their running lights merged with the skyscrapers in downtown, like an extension of the city's nightlife.

She asked, "Does he ever pay tribute for _your_ cooperation?"

Ozpin didn't like her suggestion. He didn't like that her fingers on the crystal cast the shadow of a spider.

He said, "I can promise you that he won't take her back to Atlas."

Raven scoffed. "That means nothing. That fleet won't escape the coming destruction. This city will burn, Ozpin. Salem's Agent has come for the tower. I've seen her."

"Who?"

Raven didn't answer.

Ozpin egged, "You mean the Woman in Red. You know who she is!" He set his mug on the glass table, loudly. "So tell us!"

Raven was impossible to read through bone the mask. Her pupils never reacted. Her body language never changed. She was always serene or aggressive. Never anything else.

But she communicated clearly when she said, "First… My Daughter."

"I can't do that, Raven."

"Then I can't help you, Headmaster."

"There are ten million people in Vale, Raven. If you don't tell us who she is, they will all die."

"What a shame."

Ozpin forced a sigh. He'd always respected her appeals to reason. Perhaps it was time to invoke pathos.

"I'm sorry, Raven. I know I never asked you what you felt about all this."

"I feel nothing."

"It can be lonely, I know. But if you-"

"I. Feel. Nothing. You don't understand, Ozpin. The moment I killed that girl, I lost every piece of me that I'd held sacred. A mother's love? A lover's caress? All sensuality in me is neutered."

She took a step and suddenly skipped to him, as if skipping frames in a film. She ripped off her gauntlet and pressed a bare hand to his cheek. He retracted from her skin, cold as a corpse. He didn't understand. But he was starting to.

He said, "Raven. Take off the mask."

"I can't."

"I want to see your face, Raven."

"Then take it yourself."

She didn't growl. She'd said it serenely. Ozpin didn't know what to make of that. But she'd touched him gently. She wasn't going to attack. So he slid his hands past her hears and gripped under the jawbone of her mask. Her eyes, crimson and still, flickered like the crystal, like a Grimm. And he understood. It wasn't a mask. She'd grown these bones from her face. The bones were her age as a Grimm. The red spirals carved throughout were her experiences.

He released her. She gestured, and a hole in reality tore open behind her. The place beyond it was dark, yet flickering with motion. Ozpin recognized black magic. Raven took a step back, to leave through that dark place.

She said, "If you don't free Yang, I will. And I promise, I will make cooperation very _difficult_ for you and Ironwood."

Ozpin held up a hand. "Before you go, Raven, there's a suspicion I'd like to address. A question that's been repeated to you many times. Anyone can kill once without changing. But to have so many souls on your conscience… Sometimes we lose track of things. Some soldiers never really return from war. And if this really has made you into a monster… We all know that the Grimm have to kill to survive. I simply have to ask: Are you certain that you didn't kill Summer?"

Raven stopped her slow backpedal. She didn't answer.

Ozpin pressed, "It was a chaotic situation. I know enemies and friends can be confused when the whole world is falling upon you. I just want you to assure me."

Raven hissed, "I know that I'm sane, Ozpin. I'm very familiar with your mind games. And I know that you still have Amber locked up in your basement. So ask her."

"Her injuries prevent her from speaking."

"I know you, Old Man. Nothing will stop you from picking her brain."

Raven turned and left through the portal.


	34. Pillar of Autumn

It is a strange thing to know another person's mind by any method. Through conversation, when the hour is late and the libations many, a clear image of the struggle and experience of a dear friend can feel eerily too personal. It is an uncomfortable experience, pursued only among the closest of relations.

There are means beyond that. Through metal, like Ironwood's soul-channeling machine, Amber could be reduced to mere matter. Even her soul would flow through the wires connected to her. Each experience, her feelings, could become data streaming into Ozpin's skull.

And beyond that were the methods Ozpin chose. Ancient arts reserved for those who sought power in all forms. He opened her life support pod, placed a hand against her forehead, and invoked them.

Amber stood in a cold and pristine corner of the Museum of Mountain Glenn. Here at the museum's heart, deep in its exhibits, lay the origins of civilization: Four coffins, each furnished for a season.

She paced down the row, shivering in the cold but distracting herself with the exhibits: The Snow Queen of Mantle, Vale's Rain Warrior, Vacuo's Desert Mistress. Below each of their historical titles, in smaller print, were their fantastical titles. The Maidens of Winter, Spring, and Summer.

She stopped at the coffin of the Fall Maiden. A meter before the glass stood a display for visitors, bearing a button. Amber checked her shoulders. She was alone for now, still waiting. So she pushed it. The display lit up, and a pretty pattern of Autumn leaves projected across the glass case.

An Academic voice drifted from the ceiling.

"This coffin belongs to Athena, the First Lady of Mistral, to whom the great city owes its founding. In her time, the people of Mistral were an impoverished society inhabiting the great swamps which define that quarter of the world. It was Athena who first brought peace to the warring tribes and who established by treaty a zone of commerce which would grow to become the city of Mistral.

"She was not content to bring trade in knowledge and resources from just the local tribes, however. She mustered the first of Remnant's Expeditionary Forces, which have come to define even Atlas' military structure. She formed a band known as The Fall Maidens, and travelled the world in search of goods, crafts, and flora. These expeditions are the origin of trade between the great cities.

"Named in admiration of the goddess, Athena's story intertwined with the fantastical, even during her lifetime. Contemporaries believed she was the Fall Maiden of fairy tales, and attributed to her the oral tradition of The Better Way. So it was that she came to be part of the seasonal origins myth that every child knows today. For more information-"

"Amber!"

Amber's head snapped down the hall to see Summer Rose. The older huntress had come sprinting from the museum entrance. A little girl in a white dress followed behind.

Summer shouted, "Amber! There you are. Come on, we're going topside."

"We're doing what?!"

"Look alive!"

Amber ran to comply, following the billowing of Summer's white cape. Summer turned back the way she'd come, and when the little girl followed, Amber saw the SDC logo emblazoned across her jacket.

They ran past the Vale Militia, who were preparing for battle in this focal point of Mountain Glenn.

Summer stopped at an elevator and called it down. Amber caught up to her, breathing from anxiety more than exertion. She looked down at the little Atlessian girl and asked, "Are you a Schnee?"

Apple nodded.

Summer said, "There's a Retinue Agent coming to meet us in the CCT foyer. We hand Apple over and then we get to the top floor."

Amber only knew to trust and fear Summer. The older woman was far beyond her in Savvy. Amber asked, "Why the top?"

"Because that's where the Fall Maiden will be."

Amber nodded. "Oh. Right." She reminded herself to stop nodding. She gripped her staff tighter.

Summer's eyes narrowed. "You scared?"

Amber felt nauseous from adrenaline. She nodded. "This will happen again, won't it? Even if we win. Someday I'll be an exhibit in a museum that's ten degrees too cold. But I guess… Everyone dies."

Summer didn't appreciate the thought process.

She put a hand on Amber's shoulder. "So you can do this. Right?"

Amber didn't answer. She didn't know. She'd never seen Summer look so serious, so scary.

Summer forced Amber to turn and face the militiamen and their scurrying.

"Because every soldier in this room is going to halt the swarm here _for you_. They know they're going to die. Everyone who stayed in Mountain Glenn is going to die. But if you stop the Fall Maiden and make it out of here, everyone in _Vale_ has a chance."

Summer pulled Amber back into her glare.

She repeated, "Can you do this?"

Amber shuddered, "I've never killed anyone before."

Summer softened. "I have. And I'll tell you what Ozpin told me: It won't change you if you don't let it."

Amber nodded. "I'll do it."

A portal opened, and Raven Branwen stepped into the room with them. Amber knew Raven only by reputation. She dressed well for a Ranger. The reactive durasteel kimono over her torso was as cool and comfortable as armor could be. The Grimm bone mask couldn't be real. But it clearly wasn't plastic.

Summer had been Raven's teammate. Summer casually asked, "Where have you been?"

The elevator arrived. Amber and Apple moved to the back, Summer and Raven in the front.

As they stepped in, Raven hit the button and answered, "Merlot is dead."

"Which one?"

"All of them."

Summer sighed. "That's a shame. I know you liked Ebon."

"I was leading him on for status. I liked Tai."

Summer turned a furious glare to Raven. Amber watched her Jaw fan out as her teeth ground, felt her aura pulsing out like a blood lusting heart. She took a step back.

Raven didn't notice, or didn't care. She was looking out the window, watching the city burn. She mused, "We kill the Fall Maiden… Then what? These Grimm have Auras. Vale will still fall."

Summer swallowed her anger and said, "We'll deal with things one at a time. I don't know how we fight Grimm with auras, but I know how we're getting Apple to safety, and I know how we're killing the Fall Maiden."

She nodded to Amber. Raven turned to appraise her. In Raven's swagger, even the turn of her head, was a flat confidence that Amber thought she could never have. Raven judged her with that glance.

She asked, "How old are you?"

"Seventeen, Ma'am."

Raven looked at Summer. "Ozpin's picking them younger and younger."

She turned back to Amber. "Can you do this?"

Amber nodded.

"Good." Raven reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a long, white glove with an elaborate eye-like sigil stitched into the palm.

She said, "Don't put this on until we're ready for the ritual."

Amber shuddered at the sight of the sigil, so she looked at Raven and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean you and Summer are going to beat her until she can't move. And _then_ you put the glove on."

Raven seized Amber by the collar and pulled her close, to push a finger into her face and hiss, "But _don't_ kill her until you're ready for the ritual. If she dies in battle, someone else gets the powers, and we lose this opportunity. Do not ruin this, Amber."

"I won't."

Raven released her and turned back to Summer. "I can only take one of you with me through my portals. Summer, what's your escape plan?"

"I'll figure something out."

"That's irresponsible. You have two girls to raise."

Summer growled, her voice shaking, "I hate you!"

The rest of the ride was silent. Those two didn't look at each other. Amber looked at Apple. She felt just as scared and helpless as that little girl.

The elevator stopped in the undercity hub, a great network of shopping and transportation, where hallways could accommodate all of the city's foot traffic standing abreast. They navigated abandoned jewelry shops and closed cakeries, and ran through the metal detectors at the CCT Subnode's rear entrance.

A recorded voice chimed, "Welcome to the Mountain Glenn CCT SubNode, the Small Tower."

They boarded an elevator to the foyer, and Apple said, "That's my voice."

Amber seized on that conversation with a smile. "I've heard your cousin Weiss sing the Anthem of Atlas."

But Apple only looked at her.

This ride was shorter. The elevator stopped and opened. They were facing the entrance and a parking lot. A Warthog dropped two soldiers, who sprinted to them.

Summer nodded, "That's Agent Hikari."

The party ran out to deliver Apple. To their side, Amber spotted a civilian- a woman waiting patiently for another elevator.

So she broke from the group and tapped the woman's shoulder. "Miss! It's not safe here. You should-"

The stranger turned to look at her. She was a faunus, though someone had cut the feline ears from her head long ago. Now waist-length hair, black as night, grew mangled through the scars. Her skin clung tight like shrink wrap to her bones.

And through her glasses, her cat eyes glowed like molten bronze. Amber couldn't breathe. She was looking at the Fall Maiden. The Queen of the Hunt. Nightshade. Khali Belladonna. Her face was pale and gaunt like death.

The elevator arrived. Khali smirked. "I think I'll be fine."

Raven shouted, "AMBER! MOVE!"

Too late. A glass arrow pierced Amber's aura and lodged in her thigh.

She cried out and tried to leap away. Khali smirked and stepped into the elevator. Amber turned to face who'd shot her. A woman in red, her second arrow already trained.

The arrow shrieked as it flew, and Raven appeared and blocked it. The rest of the fight was a blur. Amber had never seen combat. She pulled the arrow through her thigh. It didn't hurt. Adrenaline had replaced her blood. She watched her aura seal the wound. She looked up. The Woman in Red strafed past her, volleying glass arrows at impossible speed. Raven was shouting.

"Amber! Go! Go after the maiden! We'll catch up!"

Summer's weapon barked into the fight. Amber stood and ran under that covering fire to the next elevator. She fitted her quarter staff with a burn crystal and struck the counter-balance. Friction catalyzed the crystal, and the reaction formed a saber that cut the counter-weight loose.

She pointed the reaction up and channeled her aura into the weapon. Pulses of Dust plasma fired out and removed the ceiling above her. When the elevator hit the top, she flew up over the tower, to the height of the antenna's tip, high over all Mountain Glenn.

The clouds above her threatened rain. The freeways were packed with cars, and the morning sun, though overcast, reflected on downtown's buildings. She landed on the CCT's rooftop, a flat platform for utility access to the antenna. The control room below her had rounded windows, as if they'd built a sphere and then squished it out like garlic.

Looking down into that office space, she saw the second elevator arrive, and the doors opened for the Fall Maiden. Her opponent had come ready, not with mortal weapons, but with all of her power arrayed. A bolt of lightning shattered the glass window, melted the bars holding it, and only missed Amber by the grace of the incredibly large antenna behind her.

She shrieked. The whole structure swayed. A spirit of cyclones rose behind her and charged. She dove into the office and cast the other end of her staff, a freeze crystal, as a barrier. Another lightning bolt shattered it.

She scrambled to cover behind a cubicle. And there she cowered and panicked.

Nightshade called to her. "You can't hide forever. I need a sacrifice, and you have to stop me."

Amber called back, "Wait! Why are you doing this?"

No answer. Amber didn't want to die. She crawled to the edge of her cubicle and peeked around. The Fall Maiden stood at the windows. She was staring at the sun.

She looked down. She spoke with an unsettling calm. "I feel you there, Malice. Can you hear me?"

The goliath trumpeted in response, its distant shout echoing up to here. Amber gripped her staff and mustered her courage. She thought, "I have to be brave."

Then a roar, deep and tonal, shook every organ and liquid in her body, and rattled every item around her. Something covered the sun, and Mountain Glenn was cast into darkness. She cowered back into her concealment.

She felt a tap on her shoulder, and she flinched. Summer's hand covered her mouth. The silver in her irises glowed.

She signaled: PINCER-GRAVITY-ON THREE.

Amber nodded.

Summer counted: ONE.

Amber socketed a gravity crystal to her staff.

TWO.

She readied her weapon and planted her feet.

THREE.

They sprang from cover. Khali casually gestured at Amber. Another window shattered. The cyclone flew in and tossed Amber like a ragdoll.

Summer got closer- close enough. Khali had time to look her way, look wide-eyed, and look worried. She pointed her finger. Lightning spewed forth, but dissipated over Summer's cape.

Amber landed on the far side of the cubicles. She stood and listened. The fighting had stopped. Wind and rain was all she could hear, pattering against the glass office and whistling through the broken pane. She wondered if Summer was dead. She wouldn't know what to do.

Summer shouted, "Amber! You dead?"

"N-No."

"Get over here!"

Amber peeked around the cubicle.

The silver light unfurled from Summer's eyes as a pair of great wings. She stood triumphant over Khali, who knelt and wept. The glow from Summer's gaze was tearing away her aura.

Khali shivered, "What are you?"

Amber shimmied back into cover. A rough grand grabbed her neck, and Raven Branwen dragged her forward. "Get in there!"

Summer's light shone brighter, peeling skin from Khali. She tried to throw lightning from her hands, but only a spark tickled between her fingers.

Summer shook her head.

Raven pushed Amber forward and ordered, "Put the glove on."

Amber drew it from her pocket, trembling with fear. She looked at the sigil on the glove. It blinked at her. She hesitated. She didn't know what she was holding, exactly. Khali recognized it. She looked Amber in the eye.

She asked, "Sister. What means would you have returned against you? Is there no limit to the escalation?"

Amber looked at the glove. She looked at Belladonna. "You destroyed a city."

"Your kind destroyed mine."

Summer sighed.

Raven snapped, "Do it, Amber! While we're alive!"

The glove fit loosely, then perfectly as it molded to her hand. She felt cold there, and the glove sank into her, replacing her skin. Her palm itched- not like it needed to be scratched, but like something was scratching it from within.

And then her hand moved on its own, pointing at Belladonna's face, and the scratching intensified. Through her fingers, she saw Belladonna's eyes. The faunus said to her, "It's a cycle. Like the changing of the seasons."

Something clawed Amber's palm. She shrieked as it split. Black goo splattered Belladonna's face, then gripped it, connecting them in a bridge. The thing scuttled along the bridge like an insect, and Amber saw that it had the plating of a Grimm. She looked away.

And there Ozpin separated from her. Because Amber was glaring at him. She was afraid, and confused, and she knew then that his story about powerful maidens spreading good and cheer through the world was a lie. She was accusing him.

Ozpin left her memory. He was in the archive, below the school. He removed his hand from her forehead and patted her shoulder. Then he stepped back, and lowered the lid on her cryochamber- her coffin in the archive, where it was ten degrees too cold.

As it closed, he said to her, "All the world's a stage."


	35. Neo-Expressionism

A little girl sat hungry and naked in the rain.

The door beside her opened. A man was pushed into the alley. The door slammed.

The man shouted, "Hey, at least let me out the front!"

The eye port on the door opened.

A gruff voice answered, "You're lucky the boss let you out at all."

The eye slat closed.

The man hammered on the door. "Hey! What about my payment? Where's the cash?"

The eye slat opened. "Here."

She heard _Ting!_ On the ground.

The doorman chuckled, "They say tragedy and comedy are two heads of the same coin."

"One lousy coin? Really?"

"Boss says you can take the kid, too."

The slat closed.

The man said, "What?"

Neapolitan looked up at him.

And Roman Torchwick said, "What the hell am I supposed to do with a kid?!"

He gave her clothing and food. He talked to her. She didn't answer. He was a criminal, and she knew not to expect anything else from him. Tomorrow, or next week, or next month, he would sell her, and she would never see him again.

Next year, she was sitting at their grungy table in their grungy apartment. Across from her, Roman had two pieces of candy. He ate one. She looked at the other one. He looked at her. She looked away. When she looked back, he popped the second into his mouth.

Mouth full of candy, he said, "Don't get the wrong idea, kid. As soon as you're, like, ten, I'm kicking you out. I don't share."

Another year. They were shopping.

He said, "Alright, kid. Look. Nobody wants to pay for a poor child. I'm gonna get you some nice clothes and then I'm gonna' sell you. Nothing personal, but you're eating half my income. World's a harsh place."

He'd been saying that all year.

"Alright, let's go in here. Now, remember, we've only got a hundred lien, so we're going to find something that fits you and then we're gonna walk away like everything's normal."

She folded her arms.

"I know you don't like it, kid. But that's the way it goes. Say, what color are you? You know, it's not easy to match things with your eyes. Take this to that mirror. You see? Brown suit goes with your brown iris, Pink suit goes with your pink iris."

She handed them both back to him.

"You don't like them?"

She shook her head. She thought he would be upset. Torchwick looked shocked. He smiled. He nearly laughed.

"Kid! Kid, you communicated! We just had a conversation!"

Neapolitan folded her arms and turned away, to give him the cold shoulder. But now she was looking at him in the mirror.

He smirked. "Smooth, kid."

She blushed.

They were sitting at their grungy table in their grungy apartment again.

Torchwick held up the last piece of candy. "Alright. So there's only one piece of candy left, and you're growing on me. So we'll play a game. I will try to get _you_ to say yes, or, in this case, get you to nod or thumbs up or gesture in the affirmative. Now, if you do that, you _lose_. And if you don't do that after a whole hour, you get the candy."

Neapolitan had never felt hope before. She felt it now like a waking limb. She licked her lips.

Torchwick put the candy under his nose and smelled it thoroughly.

"Mmmmm. That's good. You know, I had a mentor, too. He taught me this game. It's about temperance. It's about bluffing. In this game, you get the candy by pretending that you don't want the candy. That's true of a lot of things in life."

He set the candy down in the center of the table.

"Alright, kid, are you ready to play?"

Neapolitan nodded excitedly.

Torchwick plopped the candy into his mouth.

Around it, he said, "Bedder luhk nez time."

A year later, they found her better clothes. She found them, suddenly, in a window. And she made him buy them. Then she made him pay for her hair. Then she made him pay for a dentist and a doctor and a manicure and pedicure. Then she made him buy her a parasol rated to channel aura and deflect most ballistic ammo. He finally refused her at a tattoo parlor.

"Kid! Stop! Alright, you know what? Now, we're gonna do what I want to do."

She pouted.

"Hey, you can walk home if that's a problem."

He walked away. He didn't look back or check his shoulder. It occurred to Neapolitan that she could walk away, too. She was free. She wasn't a poor child anymore. People would buy her things. And she knew that she could convince even criminals to look after her.

But she liked Roman. So she followed him to an art gallery called Valeiant Image. She found him in front of a painting: of a young huntsman in red putting down a great beast with his axe-gun.

Roman asked, "What do you think of this one?"

She'd never seen art before, but she already had an opinion about this piece. She stuck out her tongue and put her finger in her throat, as if gagging on the over-saturated hues, hyper-macho subject, exaggerated masculine imagery- no mustache was that large- and ridiculous glorification of such a common tale. Huntsmen had been slaying beasts for thousands of years.

Roman smiled at her. He pointed with his cane, to the price tag.

She had a sudden interest in art.

A woman approached Roman. Old fears found Neapolitan. She gripped Roman's pant leg as if he might fly away.

The woman said, "Hazel Adel. Welcome to my gallery."

"Torchwick. Roman Torchwick. Adel, your kid's that Beacon student in the papers?"

"It is a minor moment of fame, but yes, I am proud of Coco. And, ah. I see your daughter is a huntress as well? That is a powerful aura, young miss. And I can tell at a glance that parasol was sewn at Dusty Things. So you aren't from Signal."

Neapolitan took a step back, so Roman's body broke their line of sight.

Roman drew Hazel's attention.

"We aren't local. And I'll admit, my money doesn't come from artistry. What am I looking at?"

"Oh, yes. This is a powerful piece of Neo-Expressionism, a recent and intriguing trend in the common meme of Vale's underground. The evocative style is-"

"I'll stop you there, Adel. Ugly words can ruin a pretty face, but pretty words can't fix an ugly one."

He waved dismissively.

Adel stuttered, "Y- Yes, well… Neo-Expressionism _is_ criticized for its close ties to art as commerce. There is a point at which, in pursuing popular ideas and themes, this painting ceases to be a conversation with society and becomes, instead, a commodity representing an exact moment of the common mores. At that moment, it ceases to be art. If that is what you mean."

Roman said, "Yeah, sure. I'll take it. Who should I make the check to?"

He carried it under his shoulder, and they walked two blocks to a nightclub that couldn't afford a doorman. Two huntresses, twins, lazed on love chairs in the foyer. Roman walked between them unimpeded, then across the empty dancefloor, climbed the empty stairs, and stopped at the empty bar. The barman watched his whole approach silently, and didn't seem to be busy.

Roman sat and said, "Hey, Junior. Greek Fire. And, uh…"

He looked down at Neapolitan.

"And a Strawberry Sunrise," he decided.

Junior looked at Neapolitan, then at Roman's painting, then at Roman.

He said, "We don't serve under sixteen, I'm not into art, and I don't know you."

Roman said, "Water, then. And I can tell by your suit that you do have an eye for the aesthetic. The name's Roman Torchwick."

Junior said, "Nice to meet you, Roman Torchwick. Now get out."

Junior pointed to the door.

Roman set down his painting. "I like your club."

"I don't like _you_."

"Thing is, Junior, this isn't a real nightclub, those aren't certified huntresses at the door, and you don't have any booze back there."

Junior's eyes leveled. He reached for something under the bar, and Neapolitan thought for a second that Roman was about to die.

Junior shouted, "Melanie! Miltia! We've got trouble!"

From the foyer, they heard, "Ugh. He's not a Blue, Junior. He's just a pushy salesman."

"I'm paying you to guard the place! Get rid of him!"

The other twin answered, "Oh my goooooood, like, we don't wanna get up."

Roman interrupted. "If I was a copper, I'd have glanced at the entrance and known this is a laundering operation."

Junior brought his hands above the counter again, without a weapon. He looked offended.

"Look, buddy, we opened two weeks ago, okay? I'm going legit. This is a real business. We're just… We… I just…"

He couldn't finish the thought. His posture sank into the bar until his face was in his hands. He breathed as if holding back sobs.

Roman sympathized. "You need help staying afloat. But you don't wanna be in the mob's pocket again. We've all been there, Junior."

He pulled the painting up into his lap. "What do you think?"

Neapolitan hadn't understood the price tag in the gallery. She was shocked that Roman had turned down her tattoo and then paid a thousand-fold for this trash. But the way Junior's eyes misted over, and how he puffed out his chest imagining himself as the valiant huntsman, she understood how Roman was planning to turn trash into cash.

"My daughter painted it," Roman lied, "And I promised her that I'd sell at least one of her pieces."

Junior looked at Neapolitan again. She crossed her knees like a proper girl and sat up straight, to look imperious and snooty.

"It's, uh, really nice," he fumbled. "But why would I want art?"

Roman's salesman smile collapsed at the sides and fell to offense.

"Let me make this clearer, Junior: I've got a lot of friends. I can make this the most happening place in downtown by tomorrow night. I'll save your legitimacy. And all I want in return is for you to say some nice words about my daughter's painting. Like, 'Sure thing, Roman, I'll buy that for fifty-thousand Lien.'"

Junior slammed his fists on the counter. "Fifty-Thousand?! I could go down the street and get one just like it for Twenty! Do you think I'm stupid?"

Roman jumped from his stool and shouted back, "Junior, please! You're making her cry!"

He threw a gesture at Neapolitan. She hesitated. Junior looked at her.

She thought, "What?"

And then she caught up to the fraud being committed, and she thought about all the candy and clothes she could make Roman buy her with that money.

It took her a second to unleash the waterworks, to degenerate from noble snob to fallen woman. She'd seen it before. She'd felt it. Crying was second nature. And it was so very effective.

Junior looked like he'd dropped a baby.

"Ah, geeze, no, I didn't mean that. It's definitely worth that much, but I can't… That's… I mean, my budget…"

He reached under the bar and pulled out a calculator. Roman put a hand over Junior's.

He said, "Junior. Think about why you started this joint. Going legit isn't about being an upstanding citizen. It's about not being under anybody's thumb. How much is independence worth? In two night's time, you'll be solvent just on door charges. I'll get you alcohol, patrons, and a little extra security. And, hey! You'll have a nice painting, too!"

At the bank, Roman explained to Neapolitan, "Everyone's a sucker."

Neapolitan held out a hand.

He asked, "What?"

She rubbed her fingers with her thumb.

"What?!"

She rubbed harder.

"Kid, the only reason we did this con was because you already bankrupted me!"

She rubbed slower.

"No."

She turned and walked away.

"Hey. Hey! Wait, where are you going?"

She dropped her posture, curled her shoulders, and started crying on a businessman's suit.

He asked, "Child? Are you alright?"

Roman pulled her away. "Ignore her. She just needs attention."

He pushed her outside, onto the street.

"Alright, fine," he said.

Neapolitan smiled. She held out her hand.

"But if I pay you, that makes you my henchman."

She cradled her chin and thought about it.

"Henchman" had a nice ring to it. It sounded better than "Kid."

She was getting a raise _and_ a promotion. She nodded.

"And I need a henchman who knows how to fight. Don't take this the wrong way, kid, but…"

Roman leaned over her, to illustrate her lack of height.

She folded her arms.

"What? You think you can protect me?"

He poked her with his staff. She tried to hit him with her parasol, but he parried and poked her again. She tried to hit harder. He parried and poked her. She scrunched her face in fury, gripped the parasol with both hands, and swung with all her tiny might. When he parried, she fell into a puddle, dirtying her clothes.

She'd never been so mad at Roman. She didn't think she could be madder. Then he laughed. She stood, raised her parasol as a feint, and kicked him in the shin.

He shouted, "Ow! Fine! You win! You little brat."

A year later, Neapolitan sat at their nice table in their nice house and looked at the ugliest work of art she'd ever seen. Roman had moved over a hundred of these paintings in the last year. Just, not this one. The subject was the same. She'd never heard of Peter Port before, but somehow the huntsman had come to define a whole genre of art.

Neo-Expressionism had saved Junior's club, catapulted Roman's career, and netted Neapolitan all the candy she wanted. Roman even made enough for her private tutor- some drunk moonlighter from Signal Academy who couldn't stand on his own feet most days. Neapolitan had been very unimpressed until their first lesson. This Qrow person had a knack for teaching little girls all the secrets of aural mobility and inertial control.

A month into her lessons, she could toss any bruiser who tried to wrestle her, parry and redirect any strike, block most shots, and kick all ass.

"Now remember," Qrow slurred at her, "You should only use these powers for good."

She nodded sweetly.

Qrow turned to the painting. Even drunk, he scowled and asked, "Who makes this crap?"

Neapolitan, on strict orders from Roman, brought out the price tag, the 80% off tag, and the complimentary bouquet of flowers. Of all the trash, this one alone proved unsellably bad. It could have been a parody, shamelessly self-aware. But it wasn't. The bulge in Port's trousers and the rippling of his muscles, the way the artist stroked his moustache as a bicep, made too obvious the theme's vanity. No amount of sweetening would sell it.

A year later, their luck suddenly stopped. Neapolitan had never worn handcuffs before. Roman looked a lot more comfortable. They sat next to each other in the back of a police van.

Roman said, "Trust me, kid. We're huntsmen. When the Blues say 'freeze,' and we fight back, they don't slap us on the wrist with resisting arrest. They just mark us rogue and a Ranger gets sent to kill us. Or a Specialist." He shivered. "Take the jail time. We'll be fine."

A Blue climbed into the van and sat across from them. They had a staring match.

He said, "You don't recognize me, do you, Roman?"

"You all look the same to me."

The Blue pulled down his shades. Neapolitan recognized him, from a long distant time when she sat naked and shivering in the rain. From the first night she'd met Roman.

Roman smiled. "So it's true, huh? Cops and robbers are just taking turns?"

Blue shrugged, "Pay's better. Benefits. I get to play with military surplus. And there's a discount at most places. Not to mention overtime."

"Time and a half adds up."

Blue enunciated, "Double."

Roman whistled. "And here I was trying to defraud the government. Should've been going after taxpayers."

The Blue chuckled, "Nothing happened here tonight, Torchwick."

Neapolitan had been following until then. She'd lost the thread. Looking at Torchwick, she saw he had, too.

"What?"

"This whole laundering thing? You, the Lien, the paintings, the real ledger, the fake ledger… None of it's getting into evidence."

"Okay…" Roman waited.

"See, some people like that thing you did with the computers. Not the physical laundering, the digital stuff. Spoofing? I don't know what it's called. They wouldn't mind if you kept doing it… Under their supervision. Thing is, if you like that deal, you gotta part with a pinkie. It's gonna hurt, Understand?"

Neapolitan shook her head.

"Hang on," Roman asked, "If you let me go, what do you report at the station? Look, there are cameras everywhere."

"Oh we've got you dead to rights on two counts of jaywalking. You're doing jail time either way."

Blue shrugged.

Roman deflated. "Great. Some deal."

"If you don't take the deal, you go to prison. And the City of Vale takes the kid."

He nodded to Neapolitan. She felt nothing. She knew that didn't matter to Roman.

Roman gaped. "You can't do that, Blue. I know what those places are like."

She felt a pain spawned from attachment, the kind she'd promised herself to never feel again. She'd been afraid, deathly, that he would discard her and hurt her. She understood now that she was a weight hurting him.

Blue asked, "Deal or no deal, Roman?"

"I'll talk to your guy."

"Don't wander off."

"Funny."

The Blue left. They watched in silence as police and repo men carted off every nice thing they'd bought in the last year. And then Agent Noir Soleil of the Special Retinue Service climbed into their van.

Roman said, "Oh f-"

"No pleasantries," Noir interrupted, "Swiftly, to business. Your computer virus, Roman. How did you make it?"

Neapolitan knew Roman was scared when he didn't hesitate to spill the truth. "I hired a guy."

"Who?"

"I dunno. It was all online. He contacted me."

"You don't know who he is?"

"No. It's better that way. I do the physical. He does the digital. And we don't step on each other's toes."

"And you are certain that you have no idea who this hacker could be? I can promise to save you from a lot of unnecessary suffering if you divulge a clue leading to capture."

Neapolitan recognized that scam instantly. He wasn't offering a salve. He was promising the pain. Roman swallowed and shook his head.

Noir hummed, "Well, your hacker is missing a single item to be completely undetectable."

Roman didn't speak. He hadn't been asked a question.

Noir finished, "The access credentials of an Agent of the Retinue."

Roman thought, connected the crimes, and asked, "You give me your credentials. I carry on with my operation. And you want me to… Launder money for you?"

"Dust," Noir corrected. "I want you to launder Dust."

He waited, and Neapolitan baited her breath, while Roman thought.

He said, "With your credentials in the CCT, I can launder all the Dust in the city for you."

"Yes. Precisely," Noir nodded.

Neapolitan was drowning in visions of money. Art was chump change by comparison.

Noir cut those short.

"You will have to go to jail, of course. And I require a show of loyalty from you."

Neapolitan felt worried.

Noir explained, "I need collateral."

"Oh no," Roman trembled.

Neapolitan had never felt so afraid. The man who did this to Roman would surely be worse than any man she'd met before.

"Please, no," Roman whimpered.

She'd never seen him cry before. And this man Noir, he seemed to revel in the effect he was having.

He nodded. A smile escaped him. "Yes."

He looked at Neapolitan. Her breath seized in her throat. She didn't want to be collateral.

Roman wailed, "Please, oh God, please! Anything but my cherished paintings!"

He leaned out the van, to scream at two faunus repo men carrying the image of Peter Port.

"Don't hold it with your claws, you careless animals! Culture may be beyond your kind, but at least excel in servitude!"

Neapolitan didn't understand Roman. She'd thought he was an expert at cold reading, or was researching his targets. But then, how had he nailed Noir Soleil so quickly? The Agent's smile came in full when Roman screamed at the faunus.

Noir said, "I won't destroy it, Roman. Suit my needs and it will be returned to you pristine."

Noir wrote a code onto a slip of paper, tucked it into Roman's jacket, and then left them. As he left earshot, Roman's sobbing cut short and he turned to Neapolitan.

She was dumbstruck.

"You see that, kid? Acting."

A day later, Neapolitan sat at a grungy table in a grungy apartment. She had a letter from Vale Lockup, from Roman.

"Henchman. Since you're still in my employ, I expect you to manage my affairs. Go to the bank and withdraw one hundred Lien. Then go to the grocery store and purchase exactly these foods and one additional candy of your choice."

She got these instructions daily.

"Henchman. I expect you to know how to cook for me when I get back. You have ingredients to make spaghetti. If you don't know how to, interrogate that old woman that lives next door."

Sometimes the instructions were simpler.

"Henchman. I hid a hundred Lien on a chit under the third floorboard from the door. Go pay the rent."

Other times, they were more complex.

"Henchman. You haven't written me back. It occurred to me that you might not know how to read and write. Qrow Branwen will teach you. Bribe him with the vintage Chateau Merlot I keep hidden behind the thermostat. Once you have learned to read and write fluently, interrogate the old woman about how to send mail. I order you to write me a letter back."

She was offended by that one. She couldn't find a pencil. Nobody had pencils anymore. Only places as archaic as jails bothered with paper media. So she grabbed a crayon in her fist and scrawled,

"My name is," and then she got three more crayons, to painstakingly draw in multiple colors, "NEAPOLITAN."

The next letter she received was a strange one. She read it, re-read it, held it up to a candle, looked at it through lenses, tried to decode, and really couldn't make sense of it. It didn't have instructions. It didn't tell her how to get rich or handle Roman's affairs or be a better henchman.

It was just a children's story, about the Snow Queen of Atlas and her quiet contemplations.

"I like your newfound sense of expression. I'll call you Neo. Get it? Neo-Expression? And you're a kid, so you're new to the city. So you're a Neo Politan. It'll be our inside joke."

She hated it.

"Here's the thing, Neo. Once upon a time, there was a broad in Atlas who didn't talk much and did a lot of thinking. Like you. She did so much thinking that she learned how to control the weather. So she founded a city called Mantle. Heard of it? Don't worry if you haven't. There's a reason. The Snow Queen of Mantle was the first Winter Maiden. You know the story about the Four Maidens, right? Ask anybody. Well the Winter Maiden got power hungry. She had the only shelter in the whole of the North, and she made herself a powerful empire, surrounded herself with a retinue, and generally did what Queens and Kings do.

"The power went to her head, understand? She didn't get something that you and I know about life. All that power she got from magic? It all went away, like magic.

Understand, Neo? Easy come, easy go. I've been thinking. We should earn our keep. There's nothing quite as respectable as The Hustle."

Neo set down the letter. She'd read it three times, this time peering at every word for something to stand out. She sighed, looked up, and startled at the sight of three intruders.

A Mistralite girl with tanned skin and green colors was searching the kitchen cupboards. A pale man with silver hair and black clothes leaned against the wall. And at the table, just across from her, sat a woman in red.

Cinder said, "I heard this is the place to find Dust."


	36. Emerald in the Rough

Emerald Sustrai had no loyalty to Mistral. It was the place she'd been born, abandoned, and starved. She had neither a face nor name to blame for her existence. Putting it behind her was easy. When a stranger named Cinder Fall offered her a life on the road, she shrugged and took it.

Cinder kept it comfortable. She always had knowledge to share. And she kept Emerald fed. So when she stopped to plant those tree seeds she carried, Emerald watched without snide comments. And when Cinder decided to stop in a town and teach a random craftsman the tricks of his own trade, Emerald waited patiently. When Cinder stopped mid trail and changed course into the wild, Emerald followed. And when she told Emerald how to live her life, when she preached about the Better Way, Emerald tolerated it.

One of those moments, the kind she tolerated, stood out to her. The end of their first month, on a hill overlooking the sea. Emerald reclined against a tree and folded her hands behind her head. The sun had just set on their fire. Cinder knelt there, poking logs into position and stoking it, forming the first charcoals at its core. The fire danced in her eyes like molten gold.

Emerald said, "Nothing's free. Especially kindness. What do you want from me, Cinder?"

Cinder looked up from the flickering red. "You're special, Emerald."

"You mean my semblance."

"I mean you."

"So how am I special?"

"You're special to me."

"How?"

"We're going to a place tomorrow, near Patch. I'll show you there."

Emerald didn't sleep well that night. As they walked, she struggled to keep her eyes open. Cinder was her usual mellow self, happily pointing out her favorite plants. Around midday, they reached a fork in the road. Cinder stopped to ponder the dilemma. The delay grew too long, and Emerald finally voiced her frustration.

"We're not lost, are we?"

"No."

"Are you sure? I feel like we've been here before."

"We have."

"We're walking in circles?"

"Not quite. That would imply that we're back where we started. But we know more this time."

Emerald scowled at the optimism.

Cinder pointed left. "This way."

Emerald pointed right. "You know what? No. You're always telling me which way, but you never tell me where were going. Why don't we go this way?"

"We can't."

"Why not?!"

"Because the trail goes this way, Emerald." Cinder pointed down the left trail.

Emerald pointed down the right. "There are _two_ trails, Cinder!"

"It seems that way from here. But no. Fate has only one path."

Emerald set down her pack and folded her arms.

Cinder frowned at the attitude. "Okay, Emerald. Let's split up. You go your way, and I'll go mine."

"I don't want to split up, Cinder. I just want you to tell me what's going on."

"We _can't_ split up, Emerald. That's my point. We will arrive at the same place. There's nothing we can do to escape it."

"Oh yeah?" Emerald sat down on her pack. "Well how about if I sit here and refuse to move? I could sit right here forever. That would really throw a wrench in all this Fate crap you keep talking. And quite frankly, I don't feel like taking another step until you tell me where were heading."

A tree collapsed behind them. Emerald turned. Two-hundred meters away stood the largest Ursa she's ever seen. And it was so close, she wondered why she hadn't sensed it sooner. Had it just popped out of thin air? The Ursa grabbed a redwood in its jaws, pulled it up, and tossed it away.

Then it sniffed the air, roared, and charged.

Cinder sprinted left.

Emerald ran right. The Ursa chased her. Of course it did.

She cursed all the gods she could think of. She burned aura sprinting, and the trees became blurs around her. The Ursa was falling behind. She leaped part way up a trunk and bounded from there up another. She missed urban running. Leaping branch to branch felt like rooftop hopping with the cops.

She backtracked over the Ursa's head, then leaped again when it lost track of her. She saw it searching in the wrong direction. As it brushed against the trees, the whole canopy swayed. Its Grimm Whispers tickled her mind. She was too angry to care. She wanted to sit at the trailhead and prove Cinder wrong.

The Ursa grunted lazily and wandered away. Emerald sighed, relieved. She reached for her compass, where her pack had been. She'd lost it. And she'd lost herself.

An hour later, tangled in vines and unhappy thoughts, her aura finally depleted. She'd burned it running and jumping. Now she was bleeding, alone, and exhausted in the wild. But at least Cinder was wrong about something: Emerald was nowhere near the trail.

A hand pierced the bush. Emerald sighed, then accepted it. Cinder pulled her to her feet, and Emerald was back on the trail. She swore.

Cinder smiled. "Hello again, Emerald. You know, the best advice you ever gave me was, 'Don't sail against the wind.'"

Emerald squinted. "I don't remember saying that."

"It was a long time ago." Cinder offered her a bandage roll, then noted, "Oh. We're here."

She pointed to a stone cemetery. Emerald had run dry of anger. She accepted today's defeat and followed Cinder to the graves.

As she entered the graveyard, her foot stepping over a pebble threshold, a faceless dread seized her. She looked at Cinder.

Cinder raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Emerald?"

Emerald scanned the tree line. She couldn't see or hear what had spooked her. But the dread was there, making her bones ache.

She swallowed. "I dunno. Just… I've got a bad feeling about this place."

Cinder had a smile for every occasion. This one was a tight curling of a single dimple. She'd stopped at the cemetery's center, and was now watching Emerald, awaiting her analysis.

Emerald didn't like it. "Cinder? Why are we here?"

"Perfectly phrased," Cinder praised.

Emerald felt a chilly tingle as her hairs all stood on end. She repeated, "Why did we come here, Cinder?"

Cinder held her arms out. "Read the grave markers, Emerald. You've been here before."

That episode killed Emerald's curiosity.

Another moment stood out to her. Cinder told her they needed to recruit a new friend. So there was a long walk, and Emerald let Cinder navigate, and they finally climbed a tree by a homestead and waited.

At night, the house lit on fire. The wall exploded, and a body was tossed free.

Cinder offered Emerald a snack.

The body stood up, and a boy emerged from the fire.

Emerald ate and witnessed the incredible battle between father and son.

The boy, Mercury Black, emerged the victor, though he limped.

Instead of "Hello," Cinder said to him, "We need an assassin. Come with us."

Mercury panted. He looked at his dead father. He looked at Cinder and panted, "Sure."

Emerald's jaw dropped.

"Don't judge," Cinder cooed. "You only needed a minute of persuading."

At their next campfire, Mercury asked, "So, where to?"

"Trust me. Don't ask," Emerald advised.

Cinder cast a disapproving look at her. To Mercury, she said, "We're going to Ditch. I'm going to become the Fall Maiden."

Mercury shrugged. "Whatever."

Emerald was too afraid to ask.

Ditch was a settlement on a dried canal. Cinder brought them to a farm outside the city, to the easement footpath that cut the field, where the farmer had marked his crops with a fence. Cinder paced in the road, walked in tight circles, examined the ground, and then looked to the horizon.

She said, "Here. We wait here."

"For the Fall Maiden," Emerald added.

"Yes."

Mercury asked, "And you want me to kill her?"

"Not by yourself. Emerald has a semblance. Amber will come to us willingly. I want you to immobilize her."

An hour later, Amber arrived, a silhouette on the horizon, mounted on a horse. Emerald focused. She hadn't practiced her semblance since leaving Mistral. She imagine herself as a small child, hungry and all alone. And then she imagined it from Amber's perspective. And the image appeared. Amber slowed to a stop as she approached. She kept her eyes focused on the hallucination, a frown of sympathy playing out on her svelt features. She dismounted, and the horse nervously backed away from Cinder and Mercury.

Amber gripped it by the reigns and pulled it back to her.

"Hey! Innocence, calm down, you unruly grump. We can't be afraid of every stranger we meet." Emerald didn't imagine the other two. So Amber didn't see them.

Amber looked at Emerald the way a mother should have. She reached into a satchel and offered an apple. "Are you alright, little girl? Are you hungry? Why are you alone?"

Cinder put a knife in Innocence, euthanizing the horse by cut. Emerald put the horse's whinnies out of her mind, and thus out of Amber's.

Amber repeated, "Are you alright? Here, you can have this. It's okay."

Emerald accepted the apple. The horse collapsed.

Cinder cleaned her blade and said, "Your turn, Mercury."

Mercury drew a dust blade. He circled Amber, analytical and intellectual.

Emerald imagined crying and telling a story about a Grimm attack. Amber shushed her with assurances.

Mercury finally decided, "Her aura's too strong. I can't pierce it on the first hit. But I definitely can in three."

Cinder shook her head. "You won't get a third hit."

"Then we need to weaken her aura somehow. Emerald?"

Emerald nodded. She imagined showing Amber a wound on her leg. Amber grimaced. And in an act that tested Emerald's cynicism, she reached out and willingly gave away a piece of her aura. The stream flowed through their contact and straight into Emerald's heart. This was the kindest gesture ever made to her. And she was betraying it.

Mercury grunted, "Cool," And drove the knife into Amber's kidney.

Amber shrieked and fell to her knees. Mercury flicked a switch on the dagger's hilt and electricity arced over Amber's skin. She gave the rest of her aura unwillingly. A battery ejected from the knife and smoked as it rolled away.

Cinder pulled a white glove from her pouch and slipped her hand into it. The palm bore the sigil of an eye. The eye blinked. Emerald wondered if she was the one hallucinating.

Amber tried to stand. Mercury grabbed a shoulder, and Emerald grabbed the other. Together, they forced her back to her knees.

Then Amber saw Cinder, and she struggled suddenly with all of her might. She looked to Mercury. "You don't know what you're doing! She's going to destroy everything! If you don't let me go, everyone is going to die!"

Mercury shrugged. "What will be, will be."

Amber looked to Emerald. And in that girl's eyes, Emerald saw belief. Emerald, for a moment, believed her.

She decided, "I don't sail against the wind."

Cinder grabbed Amber's chin, demanding her attention. She looked angry, furious in a way Emerald had never seen her.

Cinder sneered, "Don't you remember, _Sister_? It's a cycle. Like the changing of the seasons."

Cinder's glove merged into her skin, a bug crawled out of her palm, and Amber screamed and shook. When the bug spat black goo onto Amber's face, Emerald looked away to save her stomach.

She looked just in time to see a wild animal charging at them. She took another second to realize it was the wildest kind, a disheveled huntsman with a modern weapon. She took another second to sidestep his attack. The huntsmen severed the black goo and spit whiskey into Mercury's eyes. But he was too drunk to carry on that momentum. He staggered around until Mercury lunged at him. He sobered up instantly and tossed the young assassin like a bag of potatoes. But he'd shown his back to Emerald. She lunged, thinking him exposed.

The huntsman was a dancing man. Emerald landed on top of Mercury, whiskey in her eyes, and punted hard below the belt.

By the time she stood, the huntsman was half-way down the road with Amber in his arms. Cinder had collapsed in convulsions.

A week later, Emerald and Mercury sat at a fire. Cinder lay in the tent with a high fever.

Merc said, "My mom died of flu."

Emerald asked, "Do you think Amber was telling the truth? Does Cinder want to destroy everything?"

"Amber said whatever she thought would let her survive."

Emerald couldn't think of an answer. Cinder sat up from her cot, joined them, and sniffed the pot boiling over the fire.

She scolded, "You shouldn't have let me sleep all day," as if she hadn't been sick for a week. Emerald looked to Merc. He shrugged. Emerald shrugged back.

Cinder noted, "I'm missing a slipper."

Mercury gestured over his shoulder. "Should we, uh, go back for it?"

"No. Let's not endanger our victory. We should celebrate."

She had a satchel, the one Amber dropped in the fight. She pulled two pristine apples from it. She handed them out, then drew a pineapple, then two eggplants, then a handful of grain, then loaves of bread, and finally a pumpkin twice the sack's size.

Emerald realized something absurd was happening. She asked, "Is that bag magic?"

She looked to Mercury.

He bit his apple and spoke while chewing. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

Emerald never followed advice. She turned to Cinder.

"The bag is magic, right?"

Cinder smiled and tossed the satchel to Emerald. Emerald flipped it open. Empty. Cinder pulled cinnamon and cocoa beans from her pockets.

She cooed, "The bag isn't magic, Emerald. I am."

She giggled. "What did I tell you? Follow me and you'll never go hungry again."

She dropped the food and clutched her head, grunting.

Merc asked, "You alright?"

Cinder took a moment of silence. Then she hissed, "We weren't _entirely_ successful. I can still… Feel her. She still has half the powers."

She released her head and faked a smile for Emerald. Though she wore the façade of composure, one eye had turned bloodshot.

A month later, they left mud country for Vale. Emerald missed city life like a drug. She could feel the Vale's beats and rhythms. She heard it sing through alleys and streets. She'd heard Roman Torchwick whistling as he fondled Dust gems. And if she wasn't engaged with Cinder, she might have signed on with his crew. Roman Torchwick was going places, like the tops of bank towers. And he was bringing cash with him. But Emerald wasn't going hungry, and she'd seen what Cinder could do with only half of the Fall Maiden's power.

She'd bound her fate with Cinder's. She reminded herself of that before every confrontation with Roman. Like this one.

Cinder and Emerald stopped at the docks, outside a warehouse. A month ago, Team RWBY had raided this hideout. Roman remade the paperwork and resumed business in a single day. And not a single cop had come sniffing. Emerald smiled and shook her head.

Cinder took note. "Something on your mind, Emerald?"

Cinder's expressions were harder to read now. She'd grown her hair out, and always had a bang covering her bloodshot eye.

Emerald gestured over her shoulder. "I feel like we should have brought Merc for this."

Cinder shook her head. "Roman is familiar with physical violence. He fears no man."

She gestured for Emerald to open the door, and then stepped through like a Queen. Emerald, just behind her, froze at what she saw.

"Where'd all the dust go?!" Her voice echoed in the empty warehouse. Not empty: at the room's center was a folding table, two chairs, and Roman.

"I told you we couldn't trust him," Emerald snapped.

"Patience," Cinder cooed.

They took another step forward, and White Fang huntsmen left the shadows around them. Cinder's hand stopped Emerald's from reacting. They were surrounded by five of Remnant's most wanted assassins. Cinder leaned closer to Emerald and repeated, " _Patience_."

Roman gave a curt signal. "Thank you, Umbra. I think they understand."

The White Fang's Shadow Pact merged with the shadows, and Emerald realized she was outclassed by their stealth. She followed Cinder to the table, but stood a respectful distance away, and didn't reach for her weapons. She busied herself by scanning the shadows and finding nothing.

Cinder sat.

Roman held out his hands in welcome. "Don't look so tense. They're well trained. And they know who their boss is."

" _Cinder_ is the boss," Emerald asserted.

Roman pointed at her. "That one needs a shorter leash."

Cinder asked, "Where is the Dust?"

Roman smiled at that. "I made it disappear."

Cinder returned the smile. "I love magic tricks. But the trick isn't done until you make it reappear."

"Look, Ember-"

"Cinder."

"What?"

"My name is Cinder."

Roman pointed. "Who's she?"

"I'm Emerald."

"Whatever. Look, Sweetie, I've got this whole town running scared. You _need_ me to make the Dust come back. But _I_ don't need _you_. So if you want the Dust back, you cut me in on the end game."

He leaned back in his chair, his terms laid on the table.

Cinder cocked her head. "I'm not sure I understand. You think you know what we're doing. But you don't strike me as the type who would want to be part of our end game."

She didn't offer anything else.

Roman sighed. "You want to know where the Dust is right now? On the market. And let me tell you: There is _de-mand._ So we can talk about this for as long as you'd like. In fact: Henchman! Cinders is here! Be a dear and bring us some refreshments!"

A little huntress entered the room with a nice suit, tri-colored hair, bi-colored eyes, and a silver tray bearing a giant glass egg. Some master gem cutter had made this thing sparkle so brilliantly it was opaque. Neapolitan set the tray on the table's center, then removed the top half of the egg by its handle. Inside was a selection of wines nested in ice.

She offered a glass to Cinder.

Cinder smiled across the table, at Torchwick. "I'd like to show you a magic trick of my own, Roman."

Cinder's eye twinkled. The glass egg jiggled, then burst into flames. The flames dissipated, but the egg had been remade in gold.

The henchman stepped back in fear. She looked to Roman.

Roman considered. He licked his lips, but nodded and quietly clapped. "That's impressive. But if you're trying to bribe me, you need a lot more."

"I won't bribe you, Roman. It's an investment tip."

"Gold?"

"Gold. And for every unit of gold, two units of silver."

Her eye twinkled again, brighter, sharper. The golden egg immolated, then gently split into two, remade in silver. Where the wine bottles made the halves lean apart, water dripped through the partition. Roman understood that his reward was diminishing.

He scowled. "Sweetie, you're not making the sale here. Look, I get if you're an underling and you aren't allowed to negotiate. The White Fang keeps saying that this has the mark of Salem all over it. She your boss? I wanna talk to her."

Cinder's expression dropped. With fatal sincerity, she advised, "No. You don't."

Roman shrugged and leaned back. "The mystery act is getting old. I want in on the end game. Understand me? With the amount of money you're willing to throw my way, the payout for you must be huge. I want a fairer share, see?"

"There is no payout, Roman."

"What? No, no, no. Phase one. You called it Phase One." He held up a finger. "Phase One: We stole all the Dust."

"Yes."

He raised a second finger. "Phase Two, we secured the monopoly."

"Yes."

"There aren't many things Phase Three can be. Either you've got a well-guarded bank or a client who wants to pay extra for bulk. Or maybe Salem just wants all the Dust for herself. Well I'm not just handing it over."

"No."

"No what?"

"We aren't taking the Dust, Roman. And we aren't selling it. There's no money to be made here."

Roman looked confused, then incredulous, then angry. "So what do you care if I keep it here or not? It doesn't even make sense to store Dust like that! It's easier for the cops to find, and, let's be honest, one mistake from these animals and the whole thing goes…"

And then Roman understood the plan.

A second later, Emerald realized, "Boom."

Cinder nodded.

Roman's jaw hung open. He pointed at Cinder. "You're insane."

Cinder gestured between them, to indicate them both. "Who's crazier? The lunatic, or the man who-"

"Not me," Roman snapped. "And I'm not helping you make a bomb. I'm out."

He stood, pushed his chair out, and turned to leave, but then pivoted back.

"And I'm taking my egg with me."

He reached for it.

Cinder cast a sharp glance, her eye glowed bronze, and a golden tear bled from her eye socket. As Roman gripped the egg, it dissolved into bullets. The wine fell and shattered. And the bullets, stained red, spilled from his hands and over the table, ringing as they bounced.

Roman didn't have a quip for that.

Cinder wiped the gold tear from her cheek, then stood from her chair. "Gold, Roman. And for every unit of Gold, two of Silver. And for every unit of silver, twenty of lead. Or all that you have will be taken from you."

Roman didn't like that threat. He shouted, "Umbra!"

No one answered. Because Emerald was right: Cinder was the boss. They recognized the powers of the Fall Maiden.

Cinder smirked. "Salem has already spoken to you, Roman. The commands she's given you in nightmares should be obeyed."

His pupils contracted. His hair stood on end. Emerald saw that his henchman read the same reaction. She glanced to him, and inherited his fear.

Cinder's smirk mellowed to a smile. "I have one more investment tip, Roman. The world is being remade. It will be purified in a crucible. It will be struck against an anvil. And then it will be cast in molten gold. Stop worrying about what you have to gain. Worry instead about the things you cannot afford to lose."

Cinder turned and walked out. Emerald followed the clicking of her glass heels.

They had their Dust back the next day. But Emerald now doubted Cinder. She had joined because Cinder promised a life of prosperity. Now she was talking about destruction.

Emerald didn't understand the plan. Instead of showing her the goal, Cinder was showing her the path.

And not even that, just the steps.

Forge transcripts from Haven Huntsman Academy of Mistral.

Join the Vytal Tournament.

Get Mercury into the Grand Finals.

Spy on team RWBY.

Spy on Pyrrha Nikkos.

The orders got weirder the longer they stayed.

Show your face as little as possible.

Avoid every camera, every Elysium Knight, every cop or soldier, and never look Ozpin in the eye.

They got bored of course, hiding in the room all day, asking her permission to get food or do anything. Sometimes they didn't ask permission. Emerald had caught wind of the name Tukson. She knew him from stories in Mistral. She brought Mercury along, and killed him to redeem her slaying of Amber. There were good days mixed in with the bad.

Then a Specialist arrived from Atlas. She was anonymous and terrifying and the most famous person in Remnant when she stepped out of her aircraft. Everyone wanted to peek at one of Atlas' most terrifying assets. So they snuck out to see. And they snuck back in when they saw. The first person to greet the specialist, was a Vale Ranger named Qrow Branwen.

At first glance, he was a drunk bum who stumbled into her path and insulted General Ironwood. But when the Specialist drew her saber and threatened to cut out his tongue, he gave her a duel so awesome and precise that crowds gathered to cheer.

Emerald and Mercury ran. They recognized Qrow. He was the huntsman who'd rescued Amber.

The pieces formed in Emerald's mind. She understood why Qrow Branwen and Specialist Winter had come to Vale. They were hunting for Cinder Fall.

The whole world was hunting her.

Emerald checked her school uniform in the mirror, then lay prone on her dorm bed at Beacon Academy, and watched out the window as the skyline beckoned. Beside her, Mercury quietly worked through his sit-ups. She wondered if she should photograph the buildings. Would she remember the city's beauty, or only her part in its destruction? She had a lot of questions about "this" and her role in "it." She wasn't sure if she wanted the answer.

She wondered, "Are we the bad guys?" then covered her mouth, realizing what she'd revealed. Mercury stopped his sit-ups.

He looked at her. She looked at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Bad?"

"I feel kind of bad about Amber," she admitted.

Merc continued his sit-ups. "Yeah," he grunted. "She was cute."

"Do you ever think about all of the people we're hurting?"

"Tukson was your idea," Merc noted.

"He deserved it," she grumbled.

"And that Noir guy? Soleil?"

"Yeah, I'll get him if I can. The Shadow Pact might beat us to it."

"And General Ironwood?"

"Definitely."

"Weiss Schnee?"

"Cinder might not like that, but the Schnees-"

Mercury interrupted her. He rattled off names.

"Ozpin, Goodwitch, Blake, Cardin Winchester-"

Emerald agreed, "Tyrant, Enabler, Extremist, typical bully-"

"Every Atlas soldier, most cops, that mugger, Roman-"

"Yup, yup, yup, yup-"

"Emerald," he sighed, "Sometimes a whole city just has to go. Humans aren't supposed to gather this close. I'm sure a god would do the same thing."

Emerald nodded. She understood it. The reasoning struck her as sound. Then she balked at a realization.

"Wait. Are you moralizing?"

"I was just explaining your thoughts to you," he shrugged.

"How do you know my thoughts?"

"Whenever you get all pensive like that, I start thinking random girly crap. It's your semblance, right?"

She hid her face in a pillow, to crest the wave of embarrassment. She came up for air.

"Alright. So, why are you here, Merc?"

He stopped his sit-ups, rolled over, and began pushups. "Back before my dad tried to kill me, he'd have me do chores around the house. This one day, we decided to build a new shed from scratch. All the old had to go. So I emptied it out and set it on fire. It was, uh…"

His eyes unfocused as he pictured the memory. He smiled. His eyes refocused, on her, and the smile remained.

The door slid open, and Cinder entered in her Haven academy uniform and skirt.

She cooed, "Oh my. Am I interrupting?"

She leaned against the desk and flicked her scroll open. She'd been more interested in the insinuation than the answer.

"Em wants out," Mercury blurted.

"I never said that!"

Cinder sighed and set her scroll on the desk. "Mercury, take a walk, please."

He popped tall and hurried out to enjoy the night air.

Emerald buried her face in her hands. "I shouldn't have said anything," she mumbled.

"Not to Mercury," Cinder agreed.

But she sat next to Emerald like a friend, and waited for her to feel more comfortable.

"I'm sorry, Cinder." Emerald peeked through her hands to see Cinder's sharp and analytic frown. She wondered what went on behind those burning irises, in the darkness and silence between her bursts of revelation.

Cinder said, "You really want to leave."

Emerald lowered her hands. She owed Cinder her honesty, at least.

She nodded. "I think I made a mistake. I... Don't want... Was Amber telling the truth? Are you going to destroy the whole world?"

Cinder's eyes danced over her. Her analytic frown remained the thin, almost flat line at the tip of her expression.

"I have a duty. Something that I have to do. Something that I want to do, and that I am obligated to do, and that I couldn't escape if I wanted to."

"But… Are you going to-?"

"You get very uncomfortable when I answer your questions Emerald. You have to choose. Do you want to leave, or do you want to know?"

" _Can_ I leave?"

"I won't stop you," Cinder said.

"But this whole Fate thing…"

Cinder nodded. "Don't sail against the wind."

"And that grave…"

"Yes."

Emerald licked her lips. "In my past life…" She laughed. It sounded ridiculous. But so was asking the Fall Maiden for advice. "The girl who's buried there… Did she use her semblance to steal and kill people?"

Cinder looked at the ground. She pursed her lips in thought. "That girl… Had a vision of me as I could be, upright and empowered. That girl showed me an image of what I could be. She told us stories of heroism and virtue, and showed us our heroes in vivid hues. I suppose you were a storyteller, emerald. You told me stories of people that I aspire to be in every moment."

"You think we're the good guys?"

"Are you in or are you out?"

Emerald wanted to belong. She belonged with Cinder. She belonged nowhere else. The moment she walked away, she was homeless and hungry and wasting her talent for scraps. Cinder respected her. Cinder was her friend. And the moment Emerald gave that away, she would have nothing but regret. And arguing the opposite was a piece of Amber's aura. That kindness would haunt her. She didn't want to cry in front of Cinder.

She said, "I'm in."

"And do you want to know the goal? I think it will be much easier for you if you only know your part."

"I don't want to kill anyone. Amber was an exception. I'm not a killer."

"And Tukson?"

"He was a monster!"

"You understood why Tukson had to die. Understand for a moment longer."

"Cinder, I don't want to do anymore of that!"

"I think you can make a third exception." Cinder took her scroll from the desk and handed it to Emerald. It held a schematic of Penny Polendina. Emerald blinked at it.

"I'm not going to kill another human," Emerald asserted.

"Think about what you're looking at," Cinder smiled.

Emerald followed the lines and graphs and illustrations. Someone- she checked the file path- someone from Atlas' Spooky R&D group- had drawn diagrams of Penny as if…

"She's a robot?"

Cinder nodded.

"She's not a person?"

Cinder shook her head.

"So…"

"So tomorrow, Mercury is facing off against Yang Xiao Long. He's going to lose gracefully. And then he's going to shake hands with Yang Xiao Long. Your job is to make her break his legs."

"That… That's horrible! I mean, I don't like him, but he's our friend!"

"His legs are cybernetic, Emerald. He already has his spares made. Talk to him about it. Back on task. After that fight, I've arranged for Pyrrha Nikkos to fight Penny Polendina."

Emerald was catching on. She interrupted. "Pyrrha's semblance! She'll tear Penny apart!"

Cinder nodded. "And the audience's reaction will embolden Grimm across Remnant."

"Wait, what?"

"All those people watching live? Every soul on Remnant will despair at once. Imagine the fervor of the Grimm swarms, delighting in that pain and panic."

Emerald saw now what Amber had tried to tell her. She felt that same mortal terror. Very cautiously, she advised, "But… Cinder… If we do that… Then…"

Cinder giggled, "Ashes to ashes."


	37. Fate 101

Pyrrha Nikos took her seat, front and center, in Professor Glynda Goodwitch's philosophy class. She hadn't spoken to her team, beyond pleasantries and necessities, for a full two days. Her teammate, Nora Valkyrie, caught her eyes and mouthed, "Are you okay?"

Pyrrha faked a smile. Jaune, as usual, was oblivious. Professor Goodwitch power-walked into the auditorium and pointed at the clock right as the chime for class sounded.

"Good morning, everyone," she said.

Glynda turned to the left wing of the auditorium and nodded a second greeting, to the foreign teams.

"And hello to our guests. Let me see… Atlas, Shade, and Haven Academies are all here today. I never thought I'd get to teach a class this well mixed. Thank you for attending, everyone."

She turned to address the class again.

"I hope you all have yesterday's lesson on Causality fresh in your minds; it will be on the test tomorrow. The tournament is not an excuse to slack in your studies. Today, we're going to start our ethics and morality section. But before we do that, I have an unfortunate announcement."

Professor Glynda was kind and motherly. Her kindness was disarming. Pyrrha had only recently learned of her secret pastime. Still, she didn't expect to feel Glynda's aura in an offensive state. The professor tensed her body and flexed her soul. A wave of terror stormed the auditorium like a blood tide. Pyrrha reacted on training and held her calm. Glynda's body relaxed, and the wave ceased, and Pyrrha sighed free from the assault.

"You guessed it," Glynda said, "Panic Drills will now be a part of every class. Not just Aural Mastery."

From the room's center, Cardin shouted, "God _Damnit_!"

"Language, Winchester. I know, it's not the most fun thing we do." Glynda turned back to the foreign section, where she focused on a single student.

"You there, from Haven. It's not often I see a student so composed."

Everyone turned to see Cinder Fall, her legs crossed under her skirt, smiling and relaxed.

"We have panic drills in Mistral," she cooed.

"Where are your teammates?"

"You might remember that a Vale student named Yang Xiao Long broke Mercury Black's when he tried to shake her hand. So my teammates all flew back home with him. I'm staying to take pictures and buy souvenirs for them."

Glynda shrugged as if accepting the explanation. But Pyrrha saw in her what others did not. Glynda kept her warm smile, but the creases beside her eyes flexed. This was suspicion. Class continued.

"Okay. Well, I'll repeat what I said before, Children. The world is changing. Teams are no longer a luxury. Huntsmen _have to_ work together to survive. And that means controlling your aura. Because if you panic, your aura projects that panic onto everyone around you. But when you are calm, you cannot project your calm. It is unfortunate, and it will disrupt class, and no, it isn't negotiable. This is all at Ozpin's orders. He's especially concerned due to recent events. So…"

Pyrrha's team captain, Jaune Arc, raised his arm. "Recent events? Like team RWBY riding that White Fang train into the wall?"

Glynda pursed her lips as his tactless blurting. "I can't get into specifics," she said.

Everyone turned to look at the back row, to team RWBY's usual seats.

Ruby Rose sat alone in the corner. She lifted her hands. "It wasn't us!"

"It wasn't team RWBY," Glynda confirmed. She spluttered, "W-wh-where- Miss Rose? Where are your teammates?" Glynda stared Ruby down.

The girl shifted her weight uncomfortably. "Uh… I don't know," Ruby lied.

Again, Glynda pretended to accept.

"We should move on with class. Today we're discussing 'The Train Dilemma.' Has anyone heard of The Train Dilemma before? No? Good. A train is going down a track, and there are five people tied up on the track. The train is going to kill them. You are standing too far away to reach them in time. But you are beside a lever. If you pull the lever, the train will divert onto a side-track. However, there is one innocent person on the side-track as well. What do you do?"

In the foreign section, an Atlas student stood to full height, clapped his heels together, and saluted.

Glynda nodded to him. "Flynt Coal of Atlas, I believe?"

Pyrrha and her team turned to see him.

"Huh?" Ren said.

"That's not… Oh my gosh," Nora mumbled.

"He looks different in his uniform," Jaune whispered.

Pyrrha recognized Flynt Coal, team FNKI. In the tournament, he'd worn a radical three-piece suit with outlandish colors. His teammate, Neon Katt, had been a skirted raver girl on roller blades. In uniform, they were cogs in the Military-Dustrial complex.

Flynt said, "A soldier's first responsibility is to humanity, not individual humans. I believe that the same is true for civilian huntsmen. We have to consider the effect on society, if they were to witness a huntsman intentionally killing someone below their station. Damaging the relationship between huntsmen and lower classes is not a worthwhile risk. So pulling the lever is not something I would do."

Glynda raised a finger to seize on that point. Pyrrha stood before Glynda spoke. She turned around to face Flynt, to show her disgust.

"How can you say that?" she demanded.

Flynt squared his shoulders to her. "Those are the facts of the job."

Here, Glynda stepped in. "Mister Coal, if you were certain that no one was watching…"

"I would pull the lever, Ma'am," Flynt nodded.

From across the room, Coco Adel said, "I wouldn't."

Pyrrha looked to the opposite wing, where team CFVY was nodding agreement with their leader. Glynda introduced, "Coco Adel? Care to explain?"

Coco shrugged to Pyrrha. "If you pull the lever, you're taking an action that causes an innocent person to die. That's murder. But if you don't act, you haven't done anything wrong. All that happens is a train accident."

From the foreign wing, Cinder spoke again. Her voice was too smooth. Pyrrha couldn't help but hear in the woman's tone a post-cynical confidence that belonged to an adult.

She said, "It can be difficult to accept when Fate requires an agent. It's easier to accept a grim future, so long as we are asked to do nothing in the present."

Pyrrha's attention split between three opponents now. At her side, Jaune sat rigid like he was caught in a crossfire.

Pyrrha stammered, "Wh-but- What does Fate have to do with this?"

Everyone turned to Cinder. She marinated in the attention. Then she poised to answer, licking her lips, inhaling so her chest heaved. Pyrrha felt disgusted at that lust baiting.

Cinder had poised to answer. But she didn't. She pointed at Jaune and asked, "If he was the man on the other track, would you still pull the lever? Or Would Miss Adel's and Mister Coal's excuses suit you then?"

Pyrrha hesitated.

Cinder smiled, though it was a sharp and cruel mark against the curves of her face. Pyrrha had forgotten to be on the offensive. She saw Jaune thinking it through. He looked as if he was really in that position, at her mercy. And he didn't look confident that she would save him. She didn't know.

"Why Jaune, in particular?" she asked.

Cinder shrugged, abandoning her predatory and aggressive posture. "He's your teammate."

The glee in her voice said she'd meant more. Pyrrha wondered how this stranger knew her deepest feelings. On a second thought, she wondered how Jaune didn't. She still had no answer. So Cinder raised her voice for the room.

"Did I hear correctly that Causality was the topic of yesterday's lecture?"

"Yes, excellent memory," Glynda nodded. "I'm happy to see someone paying rapt attention. Specifically, we covered Determinism, Pre-Determinism, and Fatalism."

Cinder turned back to Pyrrha. "Then Miss Nikos must be aware that the outcome of the dilemma was never in her power to begin with. Tell me, Pyrrha, as a native of Mistral, you adhere to the Legacy of the Gods, yes?"

Pyrrha felt outrage, like her face had been held to a fire. She corrected that look and tried on something more polite. She licked her lips.

"Excuse me, but-"

"Religion is _not_ today's topic," Glynda interrupted. She stepped forward to emphasize that she was unhappy.

Cinder shrugged. "I already asked if she would kill her teammate," she noted.

"You don't have to answer that, Pyrrha," Glynda asserted.

Pyrrha looked to Jaune again. He leaned in closer and whispered, "Would you?"

She couldn't answer that. She folded her arms and said to the classroom, "Yes, I try to temper my conduct for the Legacy of the Gods. But that doesn't mean I expect it from others, or use it to judge their conduct."

No one raised their pitchforks at that. Though she knew there were audiences that would. She didn't dare glance in any faunus' direction.

"You're in good company," Cinder smiled.

Pyrrha nodded, accepting that solidarity. She waited for Cinder to continue.

"Here is the relevance. If you believe that the gods laid out a path for us, and if you accept that they have selected us as their agents, then Destiny should not be a foreign concept to you. As a matter of virtue, you must apply your own direction to your life. If you ever believed Jaune would tear you from the righteous path, you would have to choose between him and your way of life. The same choice is presented by the train. Because the gods must see that you have chosen and adhered to a destiny, and so they poison it with Fate, a Destiny you have no part in creating and which you are powerless to create. Or do you believe that you can ignore Fate?"

"What I believe," Pyrrha said, "is that we can envision a future that is distinct from the way things seem to be going. And that by making choices, we can effect dramatic changes on the world around us. That's why choices are difficult. Because we are all imagining the outcome we create by pulling the lever."

Cinder shook her head. "Choices are difficult because we lack knowledge, not because the future is malleable. Yielding to Fate is how humanity survives. Imagine if we had battled every hurricane, or tried to leash the tides. And siding with fate has brought us prosperity. Where would we be if we had not let the winds choose our trading partners, or if we had settled ambivalent to mineral wealth?"

Cinder remained smooth and clam. Pyrrha's slow cadence and tone was gone. Too late, she realized she had lost her temperance. She shouted, "The train may be a metaphor, but it is _not_ a metaphor for nature!"

"The train _is_ nature. The people on the tracks are nature. Everything, even you, are just as much a part of Nature's cycles as..."

Cinder's throat bobbed as it seized up. One of her eyes was covered at all times by a bang of hair. But the other sparkled with a realization. And it truly sparkled, the way a burn crystal flickers when shaken.

"Pyrrha," Cinder said, "You and I are just cycles in nature, no more distinct than the changing of the seasons."

Pyrrha swallowed. The rhythmic hum of Amber's stasis chamber filled her ears. She felt as if she was standing in that cold room kilometers below the school, where even now the Fall Maiden awaited Fate- awaited Pyrrha's decision about Amber's life.

Glynda noted, "That's very poetic, Miss… Fall."

Pyrrha folded her arms. She glanced to Glynda. The instructor asked, "Have you two met before?"

"Only once, in the chapel."

Pyrrha made a curt down signal with her hand, that she was fine.

Cinder placed a hand over her chest and brought her posture back to humility.

"Miss Nikos _is_ famous. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so familiar."

"No," Pyrrha said, "That's not what I'm taking issue with."

She steeled herself and met Cinder's eye again. "You're acting like the decision with the lever doesn't matter, because we're mere servants to Fate!"

"We are," Cinder cooed.

"That's absurd. I can't accept that."

"Causality is a fact. And your neurobiology is no exception to it, Pyrrha. You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality."

Professor Glynda held up her hands to stop them. "Ladies. You two don't have to carry the whole discussion."

"I'm fine," Pyrrha snapped.

She looked Glynda in the eye, to let her know she needed to carry this out. "It… Takes my mind off things," she said.

"Look at that," Cardin snarked. "Even the chosen one gets tournament nerves."

The room laughed softly. But Pyrrha saw in Glynda's eyes that she was understood. Glynda relented.

Pyrrha turned back to Cinder. She swallowed. "You think choice is irrelevant to the dilemma?"

"The dilemma loses its relevance to reality at two points. First, it assumes that there is a greater good, either in virtue or in economy of suffering. Second, it assumes that the lever works. If I understand correctly, Team RWBY believed that _they_ could stop a train."

Pyrrha nodded. "Okay. And you believe that the gods have destined humanity to struggle to survive, and to recreate them and their ways. But if our choices are irrelevant to the success of that plan, then why must we be its agents? All we add by participating is our own experience, in a word: Suffering. And the dilemma becomes: To be, or not to be. I think it's fair to say we all made it into this room by choosing the former. But… Is that why we came here? Just to suffer? The only way I know how to be is to take my stance. Because, if you give me a lever, and a place to stand, I know I can move the world."

The ideas, and the words, had come to her as she spoke them. What she had needed was not the argument with this stranger, but the knowledge that she would have an answer. The class sat in an awed silence, partly awkward due to her spilling out her heart, but partly impressed. Cinder had no answer. Her mouth hung open. Then she nodded, lowly, to cede.

"Beautifully said," she mumbled.

"Thank you," Pyrrha nodded.

Jaune, trying to support her, clapped. Before she could stop him, the class joined in. They weren't too enthusiastic, but Pyrrha forced herself to smile and bow.

She had turned her back to Professor Goodwitch. She saw just as her head dipped, the sudden worry on everyone's faces. But she did not see as Glynda flexed her body, and projected her aura. Pyrrha only felt the pain and terror the professor struck her with. All of Glynda's fears and dreads surrounded her, like a sudden eclipse of hope.

She shrieked and hid her head in her hands. She panicked. And with the force of two auras panicking, the rest of the room fell into dread. Curses and hisses turned the auditorium into a pit of snakes and lions. Their failures cascaded, and Pyrrha felt the added weight as each student's resolve faltered. The lights flickered. The holo-screens fizzled and sparked. And for two minutes, Pyrrha was not a celebrity. She was the girl who'd dropped the ball.

When she opened her eyes again, she felt like she'd woken from a dream that would haunt her through the day. Her muscles shook under her skin. Cold sweat dripped down her face, shaken free by her ragged breathing. She found her chair, and covered her eyes with her fists.

"It's okay, Pyrrha," Jaune trembled, "Everybody does it at least once."

He was recovering. He was comforting her with his voice, just as she had done for him once, and just as he had done for everyone since then. But Pyrrha wasn't recovering. She felt the cold breeze emanating from Amber's sarcophagus. She imagined herself there, trapped, mauled by some faceless aggressor who had come to steal her very soul. Her Destiny ended. Awaiting Fate. Devoid of hope.

She uncurled her fingers. She felt like a coroner was trying to unclamp her corpse's grip.

"P-Pyrrha?" Nora said through clenched teeth.

"Come on back to us," Ren hummed.

"I can't," she said. "I can't do it."

"Okay. Well we'll just wait until you can," Jaune assured her.

"I have to go," she said through tears.

And she left. She saw that no one would meet her eyes. She saw how they shirked her presence and flinched as she passed. She knew she didn't belong among them. And as she left, she heard the tone of Professor Goodwitch's voice. Glynda was ashamed at her duty. But the professor said, "And that's why we drill."


	38. Dataclysm

A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from atop a tower. And as Atlas was learning, more data did not equate to more knowledge. More Data meant more distractions. So even now, holding all the pieces of the puzzle, and more, Atlas was sifting through everything they needed to identify The Woman in Red. Ironwood called this tragedy The Dataclysm.

It began in the office of Bartholomew Oobleck.

Dr. Oobleck skimmed over a book report, Commentaries on Crusade, by Blake Belladonna. He ticked off two grammatical errors, marked her down for a pun clearly contributed by Yang, scribbled a note where her interpretation overlooked Pre-Dustrial theology, and then tossed it aside.

His to-do list still had a hundred next-of-kin from Mountain Glenn. He couldn't do that today. There wasn't strength left in him to make another family cry. He summoned a holo-screen and checked the time. He had three hours till the beginning of the next match. That gave him at least two until he had to leave for the colosseum and begin commentating.

He wanted to play with History. So he dug out a pet project, dusted it off, and skimmed through the ancient Mistralite tome. Archimedes' _Other Pursuits._ It wasn't his lost diary about the philosopher's stone, but it was a record of his travels in the ancient world. Peter Port had somehow convinced Jacque Schnee to dig it out of the family vault and lend it to Beacon Academy.

Oobleck found his bookmark and flipped forward. Archimedes had an account of his meeting with Athena and her Fall Maidens. The thrill of discovery made Oobleck's hairs stand on end. He had the high a runner feels, the excitement of a child seeing candy or of the hungry seeing food. In his hands was an account that made Athena and her expeditionary force _real_ in a way no other historian had made it.

He flipped the page and nearly died. Along with engineering and alchemy, Archimedes had taken to photography, which he invented. And, demonstrating incredible foresight, he'd taken a picture here. Oobleck scanned it with his scroll and immediately sent a copy to Ozpin, Goodwitch, and Qrow. They'd each expressed a deep interest in the Fall Maiden recently, and this was the last known photograph of the last rightful Fall Maidens. Athena had direct lineage to the first maiden, and she had made a blood pact with the women around her. That, and Glynda would know the best time to share it with Pyrrha, who revered Athena the Mortal as much as Athena the Goddess.

Oobleck set his scroll aside, ignoring the replies, and returned to his reading. He saw Archimedes' footnote on this entry. The photograph had been taken just over the horizon from Mistral, as Archimedes entered and Athena left. This was her final expedition, whose fate was lost to everyone but the gods. And to the best of his knowledge, Archimedes was the last kind soul they ever met.

They looked happy.


	39. Champion

Glynda Goodwitch and Qrow Branwen stepped off of an air shuttle, onto the Vytal Colosseum. From this immense, flying stadium, they could see all of Vale, all of Ironwood's airfleet, and the whole curve of Remnant in the fields.

They'd seen it before, from atop the CCT. Qrow gaped and yawned, then chased it with a gulp from his flask. Glynda glared at Ozpin's tower, at Ironwood's fleet, and then at Qrow. She unfolded her arms and handed her basket to him. "Here. You carry it."

"Really? That's why you brought me?"

Glynda guided their walk past security. "I brought you to talk about something. There's a student in one of my classes, from Haven. I think she knows Pyrrha."

"Pyrrha's a celebrity."

"She knows Pyrrha somehow. And she's... Too mature to be a student. But all of her transcripts check out."

"Are we going on evidence or is this Woman's Intuition?"

"You sound like James."

"Not at all. Jimmy favors evidence."

"And you?"

"Evidence is wrong sometimes. So you've got a hunch that a student from Mistral knows-"

"She's not a student. I don't believe that."

"This sounds a little like paranoia."

"Sorry if I seem unsettled. It's just… This business disgusts me."

Qrow nodded, "Good."

Glynda folded her arms again. Her eyes stayed low. She turned into the participants' hallway, and her stomach turned against her.

She asked, "Would you do this to your students at Signal?"

"That's different. They're younger."

Glynda stopped.

She turned to him and whispered. "Pyrrha Nikkos trusts us. We're supposed to be trustworthy. I looked her parents in the eyes and I told them we would protect her. I told them this was a safe place where she could hone her skills and enter the world as a well-prepared professional. I told them she would make a difference."

He pulled from his flask. Qrow didn't whisper. "You didn't lie, Glynda. They wanted a hero. Guess what? Heroes suffer."

"Well at least _your_ mood's improved. You used to say _everyone_ suffers."

"Heroes suffer more."

Glynda didn't answer. She turned down the hallway, and they walked around the curve of the stadium.

"I used to like this place," Qrow confided.

She smiled into the distant clouds. "You're like James."

"You mention him a lot."

Glynda remembered her company and corrected her smile. She wanted to tell Qrow it wasn't his business. But she heard a sound she couldn't ignore: Glass heels echoing in the hallway.

Glynda and Qrow stopped beside Pyrrha's ready room. Their eyes followed swaying hips and a short, red dress down the stadium's curve. Qrow made a soft click of admiration as he sucked his cheeks in.

Glynda fired a look of utmost disgust at him. "I might suspect her of crimes, but that's no excuse, Qrow."

Qrow's appreciation of the female form soured. He looked down at Glynda. "What?"

"You're ogling a student."

Qrow looked at the hips again. "That's Cinder Fall?"

"Yes."

"Your intuition was right. She's not a child. I'll message Ozpin."

He flicked open his Scroll, fired a text, and closed it. He nodded at the door.

Glynda held up a hand to stop him. "Pyrrha needs us, Qrow. She can't do this alone."

"No one can."

Glynda confided, "I'm not sure I can help her alone."

"I know the feeling."

Qrow took a last glance at Cinder's hips, then pushed through the door.

Pyrrha's ready room had a small vanity for her to fix her armor, a cistern to chalk her hands, and an elevator leading up onto stage. Pyrrha sat at the vanity. She wasn't crying- not anymore. But she'd smeared makeup down her cheeks, and was methodically wiping it away.

She looked up, and Glynda tried to say hello. Her scroll, and Qrow's, vibrated in unison. She sighed, but ignored it, and pressed on. "Your parents sent you a gift basket, Pyrrha. I thought I'd bring it here in person since Jaune is busy cheering you on in the stands."

Pyrrha smiled. There was no joy in it. She was being polite. Glynda looked to her side, for Qrow to hand her the basket. He was looking at his scroll. He offered out the basket absentmindedly. "It's just Oobleck. You know. Oobleck stuff." But he didn't look away from the picture.

Pyrrha finally spoke. "Um… You're Ruby's Uncle, aren't you? I heard you made a very impressive demonstration with Specialist Winter in the-"

"I gotta go." He did.

Glynda gaped at the door as it shut on her. She corrected her features. Pyrrha needed to see that she was confident and strong. Pyrrha needed to see that everyone believed in her- That she wasn't just a buffer between Amber and the inevitable destruction of Vale.

But when she turned back to Pyrrha, she didn't see a young girl seeking counsel. She had the knowing look Coco Adel always wore. It didn't suit Pyrrha. The deflation of her posture was itself a blasphemy. She wasn't the invincible girl. She looked sizes too small for her clothes, for her reputation.

She said, "You're here because I have to decide. About Amber. About… Taking her soul, and becoming the Fall Maiden."

Glynda set the basket down beside Pyrrha. She said, "I'm a teacher, Pyrrha. I'm here to protect you and give you counsel."

"I'm sorry, Professor. But I don't think your advice will matter."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't have a choice."

Pyrrha hugged herself. She looked down, into the basket.

Glynda offered, "You can always say no."

"Can I? The world needs me to do this. The world will make me do this. I, as who I am, have to."

Glynda nodded at the sense. There wasn't any disguising it. Just like that long gone moment in Ozpin's office, she saw what had to be done. Pyrrha had to kill the Fall Maiden, and then she had to run hard and fast while they tried to protect her.

Still, she noted, "If you're that certain, Pyrrha, you can rest easy on your conviction. And you can enjoy the little comforts, like the tournament."

Pyrrha smiled, as if the joy behind her poker face could no longer be hidden. It wavered as the sorrow came with it. Tears spilled out, but she steadied her voice and said, "I don't want to be a huntress anymore. I… I'm in love. I have plans for my future. I want… I want more than I can have. I always knew that, but I thought I had to choose. I thought I would get to choose. Now I feel like I'm along for the ride. I feel like I'm spectating my own life."

Glynda sat beside Pyrrha and tilted her head as an advisor would.

"You are about to walk onto a stage and give your best effort, Pyrrha. If you didn't, you wouldn't win. That's a choice, isn't it? And you can choose, if you want, to walk away from this life and this choice. We won't stop you. We actually _can't_ force you, if I understand the science. And your choice will matter. It's not unusual to have an existential crisis when you ponder Fate. But don't stop being that girl who stands up for Destiny, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha laughed through more tears.

"Professor… Everything is pre-determined! Even my participation! Isn't that all we are? Even if our souls are separate from matter, they obey rules. They are what they are. I am the product of interactions of matter and energy, and a ghost inhabiting my body. But all I am is a result, a reaction. Even love is defined by chemistry! I love Jaune because there are chemicals in my brain or rules written onto my heart, but not because I can choose who to love. Nothing, not even my identity or ego, is within my power to decide. You said it yourself, professor!"

She gestured at the elevator.

"I'm walking onto a stage!"

At that moment, the lights in the room flicked red. Two roulette wheels appeared on a holo-screen, and Pyrrha looked at them like a gallows.

Glynda pointed at the spinning wheels.

"Pyrrha, the matchups are randomized by radioactive emissions. I have it on good authority from physicists that it is truly random. That matchup isn't pre-determined."

Pyrrha looked terrified.

The wheels slowed. She saw her face on course to hit Penny Polendina's. She swallowed.

The wheels passed, and the match was set between Gale Blaze and Birch Walker.

Glynda noted, "Tournament nerves?"

Pyrrha sighed, ragged and relieved, as if from mortal peril. She wouldn't be in a match that day.

She whimpered, "Every day feels like a gift."


	40. The Simple Soul

Ruby, without Yang, could not function. She sat on her bed, her legs curled against her, and answered every question with, "I don't know. I'm thinking."

She'd done that for twelve straight hours. Now Blake, bruised and bandaged, could take no more.

"She's YOUR sister, Ruby! And we need her to find out who Roman Torchwick was taking orders from! We need her to find the Woman in Red! Make a decision! You HAVE to MAKE a DECISION!"

"I'm thinking."

"Stop thinking and act! We have to rescue her! We have to- AGH!"

Blake clutched her side, the rib she'd broken the night before.

Weiss helped her back into her bed and lied, "Your aura is super strong, so I bet it will heal by tonight."

"No. A few days, at least," Blake winced.

She scowled at Ruby.

Weiss turned a sharp glare that way as well. Ruby hadn't moved. She sat, dressed for combat, knees hugged to her chest, eyes straight ahead at the mirror.

Weiss said, "She's right, Ruby. You have to make a decision. We're going to rescue Yang. Are you in or not?"

"We can't do it."

"We have to try," Blake grunted.

"She's our teammate. Maybe that doesn't mean anything to you, but we can't let them split us up."

"I can't do it," Ruby admitted.

Blake forced herself up in bed. She ground her teeth and snarled at Ruby.

"I'm getting really sick of you right now, Ruby."

Ruby had never seen her so hostile. She didn't want to meet Blake's glare. She looked to Weiss. But the Schnee was frowning.

"Ruby, I mean it now more than ever: Grow up. Your sister is in prison for doing the right thing. We're going to get her out. All you have to decide is if you're coming with us. And quite frankly…"

Weiss folded her arms and tilted up her chin.

"If you can't do that, you don't deserve to be team leader."

Ruby looked into her lap, at the stream of text messages from her friends at Signal Academy. A bigger text from Uncle Qrow sprang up among them.

It only said, "I heard. Don't do anything stupid."

Ruby picked up her scroll and thumbed back, "Who told you?"

Beside her, Weiss scoffed and said, "Come on, Blake. We don't' need her."

Ruby didn't want to be alone. She looked to Blake. The faunus hesitated. But she realized, "You're right."

She stood, and only stopped to give Ruby a long, disappointed look.

Ruby said, "I don't think this is a good idea."

Blake hobbled out on Weiss' shoulder. And Ruby was alone. She pulled her blankets up around herself.

Her lap rumbled.

Qrow had replied, "Take your team out for some ice cream. I think it'll all be fine."

Ruby thumbed back, "But how did you find out?"

She looked into the mirror again. With her blankets bunched around her, she could squint and see her mother hugging her. Through blurry tears, that vision was clearer.

Her scroll rumbled.

Qrow: "A little bird told me."


	41. Snowblind

General James Ironwood's office door opened. He motioned for Fleet Commander Gray to enter and sit.

Gray did, and announced, "We've never seen anything like it, General. They're leaving. Both Swarms, and all of the stragglers. Every Grimm is heading out. I don't know why. There's nothing on DO-RO. They aren't chasing anything. It's like they just lost interest in Vale. Malice II is going back to the coast and Rancor is wandering off into the bush. And it's not just us. StratCom says we have swarm motions breaking predictions across all of Remnant. They're all leaving their predicted targets and just… Roaming. No agitation, no anomalous weather, nothing."

"I'm sensing a 'but' in there, Commander."

"No. That's all there is, Sir. Once they clear out, we're back to Threat Level Two. We're… I don't want to jinx it, but… We're safe. The mystery is why."

Ironwood asked, "Why did we bring _Eidolon_ half-way across the world, Gray?"

The Commander shrugged. "Mountain Glenn was likely an inside job. Everyone in Vale is suspect, but there's no one in this fleet who could be conspiring to destroy Vale."

Gray held out his hands, as if to ask, "Unless I'm missing something?"

Ironwood glanced at the scar in Gray's palm. He nodded. "Because no one in Atlas could be part of this conspiracy."

Gray didn't answer. He grimaced. Ironwood nodded to his side.

"Ensign. Two glasses of Bourbon. Then you're dismissed."

A short girl with heterochromia stood at attention by the wall. She poured the drinks and left. When the door clicked behind her, Gray said, "Been a long time since you drank Bourbon, Jimmy."

Ironwood said, "We've made a terrible mistake."

He pushed a slip of paper across the table, face down. Gray looked at it. Ironwood explained.

"A year ago, the CCT system pushed an update from an obscure R&D group. VTNTMRK13."

Gray knew it better as, "Dreizehn?"

Ironwood nodded. "They invented the Snowblind protocol, the same software that blacked out most of the media spread from Mercury Black's broken leg."

"That happened live. Snowblind can't hide it."

"Try to find a video of the incident. Only the state approved- only the doctored version is available. Give it a few years. People will remember our narrative, not the truth."

"Sounds like something out of Soleil's book. You know, if he was still alive to write one."

Gray smiled at his own joke. He saw that Ironwood darkened.

The general continued, "The software update. There's a program in the update. Ashes One Ashes Executable. I don't know what it's supposed to do; that's still classified to everyone but the council. They have revealed, though, that it spread virally through every system on Remnant. It's on your scroll. It's on mine. Everything is compromised."

Gray sat and rested an ankle on a knee. "But it's _our_ program, right?"

"It was. The program requires an operator with credentials. Everyone with access to the program died or went missing, so it was neglected."

"So we have a rogue program digging around the CCT with access belonging to a top secret R&D lab."

"It's worse than that. Remember Torchwick?"

"The gangster in the brig. He was stealing all the Dust in Vale. And we wondered how he knew when and where the Schnees had it. Was he using this program?"

"An associate of his. There's a hacker we've yet to identify. Before we arrested Roman, the program was using credentials belonging to Doctor Merlot."

Gray levelled his brow. "Merlot from Mountain Glenn? The one who invented the Grimm with Aura."

"Yeah. He's the M in the unit's name."

Gray looked away, to think. He realized, "Merlot's been presumed dead for twenty years. Dreizehn didn't notice their program was run by a ghost?"

Ironwood pointed at the slip of paper on the desk. "After we arrested Torchwick, the hacker was wise enough to stop using Merlot's credentials. We assumed our guy was in custody and pretending to be a common thug. Only now… Ashes One Ashes executable is active again. We've gathered, from one of the faunus Roman was abusing, that Roman got these credentials from an Agent of the Retinue."

Gray tried to interject his surprise.

Ironwood held out a hand. "And that these credentials were to be switched to… In the event that a catastrophe occurs during singles round of the Vytal tournament."

Gray clenched his jaw. "I don't like that our enemies know the future, Ironwood."

Ironwood nodded.

Gray asked, "Do you really think an Agent gave away their credentials?"

Ironwood flipped the paper over.

Gray read aloud. "Three Four Three Guilty Spark?"

"Agent Noir Soleil. He's the N in the unit's name."

Gray leaned back in his chair. They were silent for a long time. Eventually, Gray licked his lips and said, "Another ghost."

" _Everyone_ at Dreizehn is a ghost. I just checked."

Gray felt sick, like he hadn't felt since Mountain Glenn- since Chernobyl.

He guessed, "Soleil gave his credentials to Roman so Roman would give him all the Dust in Vale."

"That sounds like him."

"And Ozpin's people say Roman was working with the Woman in Red."

"That's the conclusion at our bureau as well."

"So if she finds that hacker before we do…" Gray followed, "The Woman in Red gets control over every Dustronic device on Remnant."

Ironwood raised his shot glass. "And for all we know…"

He toasted, then shot his bourbon.


	42. Envy

Qrow Branwen slid a door closed behind him and offered a hand to Agent Hikari Oni of the SRS. They were standing in an evidence locker aboard _Eidolon_. Hikari didn't return the greeting.

Instead, she swiveled the bulkhead door closed and pulled the pin on one of her grenades. She kept the spoon in place and adopted a casual stance, then instructed, "Show me."

Qrow pointed at the grenade. "Uh… You might wanna be careful with that," he suggested.

Hikari shook her head. "I can't stop you from killing me, Huntsman. But if something knocks my hand off this grenade, I'll take you with me."

Qrow chuckled, "Winter must love you."

Hikari snapped back, "I hear she gets along with you pretty well, too."

"You'd be surprised." Qrow reached inside his shirt and revealed his token, a necklace bearing Winter's Cameo.

Hikari's mouth hung open, part way between a scowl and a pejorative.

"I am," she admitted.

Qrow shrugged. "I told her I need the high-heel. This is supposed to prove she trusts me with it."

"When did she give that to you?"

"When the investigation began. We've been working together on it. I found you the glass slipper in the first place."

"You're the huntsman that saved Amber."

"Tried to."

Qrow offered out the cameo. Hikari took it. She nodded to the slipper.

"Go ahead. One question, though."

"Shoot."

"You and Winter."

"I might not answer this."

"You did."

Hikari reached for her radio. Qrow held up a hand.

"There's a reason we're doing this clandestine. Don't say anything over the radio. Just make sure Winter gets her necklace. She'll understand."

After the huntsman left with the glass slipper, she replaced the pin on her grenade. She looked down into her hands. In Winter's cameo to Qrow, she'd undone the top button of her blouse and let down her hair. She was smiling, at ease.

Hikari snapped it shut.


	43. Triple Threat

Blake and Weiss sat on a shuttle to _Eidolon_. They hadn't spoken for ten minutes. Blake had pulled out a book, _Crusade_ , and was re-reading one of the more fantastical segments. _Third Crusade_ was a purely political work. _Crusade_ was a religious text, full of mythic interventions and commentary on the divine.

For example, the Book of Quarrels, Chapter 24.

1 The discussion then turned to a tangent on the penitent souls.

2 'And how will they survive on this world?'

'And what if they never build the tower?'

'This creature designed by committee will never save itself, let alone us!'

3 Pallas Athena calmed them. 'This creature is all that we have. We have laid out for them a garden in which to grow and prosper. Somewhere in this boundless place, they will find or create the means needed. 4 They must only be warned. They must know that even the gods did not have power over life and death. They must know that they are merely the Remnant.'

5 Again, they quarreled.

6 'What if they ignore our words?'

'Will they even have time to understand?'

'And what of their shadows?'

7 Again, Pallas Athena calmed them. 'And what of our shadows? 8 Humanity is made from Dust and Ambition. We have designed them to understand. 9 You ask them to have faith in us. Where is your faith in them?'

10 This was not guarantee enough. The mob brought to Athena an ultimatum. To ensure that humanity fulfilled its duty, the gods took those souls which had been imprisoned for their deeds and remade them for war."

Blake sighed. Why did humanity need to know this? How was a farmer supposed to change his life to reflect this knowledge? What value could be drawn by a historian? Maye it was a brief glimpse into the inscrutable divine. But the gods were supposedly asleep, or even dead. Their quarrels were moot. She hadn't written that in her book report. She wanted a good grade. But maybe now she could ask Professor Oobleck.

A voice from the shuttle's ceiling announced, "We will be arriving shortly."

Blake flipped the book closed and tucked it into her spine pocket. She felt Weiss lean away from her, and shot a coy smile at the Schnee for reading over her shoulder. "Careful, Weiss. It's a banned book."

"Well. I didn't read _too_ much," Weiss snapped.

Blake giggled, "This is pretty ironic, now that I think about it."

"What is?"

"I rejected your invitation to the Gala on the carrier, like, two days ago? Now here I am bumming a ticket off of you."

"Believe me. I was acutely aware of that."

"Sorry, Weiss."

"It's fine, Blake. To be honest, I was very nervous about taking a leadership role. I'm glad you're following me."

She cast a quick glance to Blake, because she was still very nervous. And she had good reason to be.

Blake's expression soured. "Weiss… I was gonna come here before you said anything. Don't get the wrong impression. I didn't bring you because I need a leader. I brought you because you're a friend."

Weiss didn't answer. She swallowed, first her anxiety, then her pride.

Blake continued for her. "Okay, remember the layout. Yang and Torchwick are both in cells on deck three. As soon as we dock, I'll try to blend with the military and get an ensign's uniform. You go to the brig and find Yang's cell. I'll secure a route over the side, and we'll secure a landing strategy between your glyphs and Yang's… You know. Hitting the ground really hard and somehow not getting hurt."

"Her semblance absorbs kinetic energy," Weiss explained.

"Yeah. That."

The ceiling said, "We are now landing. Please gather your cargo."

Weiss had a last-second panic. "Wait. Blake. Roman Torchwick is in those cells. What if someone tries to break him out while we're trying to break out Yang?"

"Like who?"

"Like his henchman. Nea? That really short girl with heterochromia."

Blake put a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "Let's focus our worries on things are likely to happen."

The shuttle settled onto _Eidolon_ 's deck. The ramp dropped, and they walked into sunlight. At the ramp, Ensign Neapolitan waved hello. And everyone stopped.


	44. Green

Midori finished her functions check and patted the chassis of her Crusader.

"You're all ready for combat, Furchten," she assured it.

The machine sat inert in the hangar deck. She made a note on her scroll, then put a hand on the ammo feeder's lid, on Furchten's right hip. But she stopped there, and cast a glance inside. The round at the magazine's top had an inscription on the casing. She knew the foundry recycled metal without refiring sometimes. She rotated the round in its place. The word "grass" had been cut off. She chuckled and closed the ammo hopper.

Then she tapped her scroll and gestured her report to the flight crew system. She was out of tasks for the day. So she could finally put her best foot forward with The Winter Soldiers. For two days now, she'd been ignored by the team. The most interaction she'd gotten was from Agent Hikari, who sent her to run errands away from them. Cherry had once looked at her and laughed when she said "Hi."

She thought now was a good time to try again. She found Cherry, Orchid, and White lounging in the ready room.

Cherry was laughing so hard her face had turned red. White was chuckling too much to drink his coffee.

Orchid drawled through a story. "So day five rolls around, White Fang still pelting the train with bullets every few minutes- I think you still had that bad fever- and I wake up to Cherry spooning me. And there's something grinding against my bum. So I say, 'Cherry, is that your service pistol or are you just happy to see me?' And she says-"

He gestured to Cherry, who couldn't talk through her laughter. Her legs gave out under her, and she slid down the wall in hysterics.

Orchid finished, "She says, 'Stop talking. I can't get off if you act alive.'"

White set down his coffee mug. He was laughing too hard to hold the liquid in the cup.

"And that," Orchid finished, "is the weirdest thing that's ever happened in the snow."

Midori lit up. She loved this game. She'd made everyone laugh at her graduation party with a story about her and Ciel.

She said, "I dunno, Orchid. I think I can top that. This one time on Blue Balls… Uh…"

They'd stopped laughing. Not a respectful fade-away to listen. They'd suddenly stopped, turned, and glared at her.

Orchid noted, "It's talking to us."

Cherry, sitting on the floor, gave her analysis. "I think it's trying to establish rapport by referencing a mutual experience."

White had retrieved his coffee. He sipped it and said, "Classic rookie strat."

Orchid turned to Cherry and asked, "A story about Blue Balls. Isn't that what Braun did?"

"Yup," White nodded, "And Blau."

Orchid didn't recognize the name. He thought about it and asked, "Blau was the one we lost at Furburg, right?"

"That was Gelb," White corrected.

"Poor bastard. Still, at least he's not Rosa."

"Rosa had it rough with that Tiger faunus," Cherry grimaced.

"I miss her singing," Orchid nodded.

"You're thinking of Roja," White reminded them.

Cherry frowned, "No. I don't think so."

White nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I remember now. She was on the train, remember? We were singing Roads in Mantle when Shadowcat shot her."

Cherry lit up. "Oh yeah. She hit that high A for like a whole minute. Before… Yeah. Okay."

Orchid turned back to Midori and folded his arms. "Anyway, your story?"

Midori seized on that opportunity. She knew about this unit's extensive casualty list. So she knew- she'd been told by Ironwood- that all she had to do was nail her introduction and not die in the first firefight. And then maybe they'd tolerate her.

She started, "So Ciel and I-"

White interrupted her. A look of realization crossed his face and he said, "Hoooooooooooooly shit. Wait, wait, wait. You're the motherfucker that dropped Ciel's rations down Dead Man's Canyon."

Which was the story.

Midori tried to continue.

"Y-Yeah. Well it happened when I tripped over a body, right before the canyon."

Orchid laughed. But it was a sour, derisive sound. "You fucking tripped over Black-Toe? You know how he died, right?"

Cherry even chuckled at that, and hissed to White, "No wonder they make her wear green."

Midori stuttered, "A-actually, my name is green, so I-"

But no one was listening to her. Their scrolls all rumbled, and they turned down to check.

White smiled. "Alright, Rook. Your clearance just expanded."

He nodded to Cherry and Orchid, and the Winter Soldiers walked out. Midori hesitated. Then Cherry turned back to her and said, "Rook. You coming?"

They lead her to the evidence locker, a dark room on Eidolon's spooky deck. They passed DatAnalysis and the Merlot Armory, but stopped in a tight room lined with shelves.

Midori scrunched up between Cherry and Orchid. White pointed and talked.

"Alright. So. Crash course: Magic is real. You know the story of the Four Maidens? Four girls help an old man, he's a wizard, he gives them magic powers, they invent the seasons. That's real, too. All this stuff on the shelf? Magic. Let's see what we've got. Okay, creepy glove with an eye on it? Right there. Magic. See that crown? That' the Snow Queen's Mantle- The original. The Snow Queen wore that. That's magic. See that really fresh looking apple? That belonged to the last Fall Maiden. Been sitting there for like a month. That's magic, too. See that, uh…"

He pointed to an empty place on the shelf. "Huh. The slipper's gone."

Midori sighed, "Let me guess. You found it on the steps of Schnee Castle.

White cocked his head at her. "What?"

"Cinderella and the-?"

"Oh. No. No, that one's locked up at the Retinue Archives. This is a different magical slipper."

"Guys, I'm not stupid, okay? I'm not falling for this."

"It's real," Orchid assured her.

Cherry asked, "Where'd we even get the slipper?"

Orchid answered, "So remember the field we found the apple in? You know, where The Woman in Red attacked Amber. Well, before we got there, someone from Beacon Intel swiped the glass high-heel."

"And now it's missing," White mumbled.

He grabbed a clipboard from the shelf and read, "Oh. Hikari gave it back to Beacon Intel."

Midori was bored of the joke. She thought the white cape on the shelf looked nice, though.

Cherry caught her staring and said, "Hey, she likes Summer's Cloak."

Midori sneered. "The Summer Maiden's cloak?"

"No. A Huntress named Summer Rose wore this. Pure coincidence. She was the last of the silver-eyed warriors from pre-colonial mythology. Nothing to do with the Four Maidens."

Midori raised an eyebrow at him.

He was looking past her, communicating in a single glance. The room was quiet for another second, then White took the cloak off the shelf and offered it to Midori.

"You wanna try it on?"

Midori sighed again. "Alright, but… If I play along with your joke, can we be done with the bullshit?"

They were trying not to smile or laugh. And they were good at it.

"Yeah; horse is almost dead," Orchid admitted.

White took the cloak from the shelf, and Midori put it over her shoulders.

She waited. "It doesn't feel magical."

"Hmm…" Orchid frowned.

Cherry tried, "Maybe it's because we're all bunched up? It only works for one person."

"Good point."

White opened a side door to the firing range. Midori chewed the scar inside of her cheek. She'd learned early that pain is preferable to boredom; the scar proved it. She walked onto the range.

The Winter Soldiers followed, smirking.

"Okay," she asked, "Where's the magic?"

Cherry shooed her back with a hand motion. "Go a little farther. A little more. More. Just a tad more. One more step. Okay, there."

She turned to Orchid, who pulled a Freeze crystal from his pocket.

Midori turned rigid. She said, "Uh…"

"Wait, how's that trick work?" Orchid asked.

Cherry mimicked with her hands. "So you angle your combat knife along the blade slope and drag it like you're shaving a carrot. When it starts spitting at you, you gotta throw it real quick."

"Uh… Guys?" Midori knew how Black-toe died. He'd dropped the rations down dead man's canyon, and the other soldiers killed him. Midori had thought she'd share the same fate. She thought she was about to share it now. This was her final rejection, The Winter Soldiers killing her for Ciel. She reached for her last resort revolver. She'd left it in _Crusader's_ cockpit like the dead rookie she was about to be.

White held up a hand. "Hang on, guys. I thought those experiments were cancelled after Sapphire died."

Midori stuttered, "Uh. G-guys? Can we talk about this?"

Orchid nodded to White. "Yes, it's against the rules. But Winter isn't here and Hikari's busy."

White nodded, "Yeah, okay. It's just… That was a horrible way to die."

"And it took so long to clean up," Cherry agreed.

Orchid started shucking the crystal. He said, "But she died for _Science_."

The crystal spit, and Orchid threw it hard. Midori's life flashed before her eyes. In twenty years, she'd mostly just worried she'd die like this. She closed her eyes. The explosion buffeted Summer's cape. The sound shocked her like a flashbang. There was light and wind. Frost stung her cheeks. Then there was darkness and silence. She breathed. She swallowed.

And then she opened her eyes, to look down at the damage. Around and about her form, the bulkhead groaned as it adjusted to cold. Ice fractals crawled around the deck, and the air misted as the temperature equalized throughout the room. But Midori was pristine, untouched. As if her cloak had protected her- as if it was magic.

She looked up. Agent Hikari had entered the room. She was standing in the doorway, staring at Midori with a look of disgust. She turned the same look to her giggling soldiers.

She snapped, "The fuck are you doing?"

Orchid shrugged, "Hazing the new kid."

Hikari pinched her nose and shook her head. "Winter needs us on the Prison deck. Not you, Rook. Clean this mess up."


	45. Prison Yang

Yang Xiao Long sat in darkness. She'd never seen the inside of a prison before. She sat now in a chair, with just enough space to stretch in any direction. A fluorescent light in her cell had flicked on at civic sunrise. Aside from that, she had a barred hole, the size of her hand, just above head level.

Ten hours into confinement, she finally sniffled loud enough for someone to hear. She heard, through the grate, across the hall, as someone shifted.

He hissed, "Hey."

She didn't answer.

"Hey. You're that stacked blonde kid with the anger problems, right?"

She recognized the voice.

She shouted, "I don't want to talk to you, Roman!"

"Thought so," Torchwick chuckled.

He spent a few minutes picking his words. Then he offered, "Solitary isn't easy, Kid. Trust me, I know. I was about your age the first time I got imprisoned. Not, you know, on a carrier. Gotta say, I was expecting better amenities up here. Oh well. That's Atlas for you: Anything with a heater is a hotel."

He sighed. And Yang, though she hated her enemy and missed her friends, cherished the sound of his voice. She sniffed back her tears. "So… You want a truce?"

"Call it what you want, Kid. I just like having someone to talk to."

So he was feeling it, too. Solitude and Imprisonment were worse than pain.

Yang swallowed her sadness. She admitted, "Yeah. Me too."

Roman had a smile in his voice. "Where you from, kid? I know you weren't raised in the city. You can take the farm out of the girl, but…"

He let the insinuation trail off.

Yang smiled. "Yeah. Patch. It's a coastal settlement."

"Near Vytal?"

"Yeah. You can row out to Vytal."

Roman mused, "I bet the grass is greener over there."

Yang nodded. "Yeah. Well, it snows in winter."

He said, "Snow's not so bad."

She countered, "You've never had to shovel it."

"Still, doesn't sound so bad. I bet you've got a family."

Roman had struck out there. It wasn't his fault. He didn't know the details. But Yang couldn't hold her tears anymore. She said, "I did," and her voice shook.

Roman was quiet.

Yang steadied her voice. "My mom left me. And then my step-mom died. I moved away and left my dad behind. And now my sister thinks I'm a criminal."

She cried, and for as long as Roman was quiet, she was alone.

He said, "Family is wealth. It's real wealth, Kid. Tell you what; Let's turn this truce into an alliance."

Yang cleared her eyes and steeled herself to think. She didn't trust Roman that far.

"When I escape," Roman promised, "I'll let you out. But in exchange, you gotta do something, okay?"

Yang hesitated. She didn't like this plan.

She asked, "Do what?"

"Nothing. Don't fight. Pick a direction, and run. Don't stop, not even for your friends. And don't look back till you're out of the Vale. Go back to your family, alright? Just… Don't be a hero."

Yang scoffed, "But I _am_ a hero."

Roman sighed, really forced it loudly to show his disappointment. "Yeah. I figured. Tried to save you, Kid. No hard feelings when you die, okay?"

The certainty in his expressions finally clicked in Yang's mind. The fog of misery lifted, and the rush of understanding made her stand and pull herself up to the grate.

"Vale won't be destroyed, okay? I'm going to get out of this cell before you, and I'm going to stop the Woman in Red, just like I stopped you!"

Roman didn't answer. Yang realized she was overstepping the rules of their truce. And she wanted him to keep talking.

She added, "But… I like your idea. About an alliance, I mean. Do you know what the Woman in Red is planning?"

"Yeah. I've got a pretty good idea," he admitted. "And it's bad. Real bad."

"So why are you helping her? You don't seem like a bad guy, Roman. You have compassion. Don't you care about all the people of Vale?"

He snapped, "They never cared about _me_! So no, I don't."

"Okay, well, we still have a truce, right? How about this for an alliance: If I-"

Roman groaned.

Yang shouted, "Hey! I listened to your stupid deal!"

"Fine. Go ahead, Kid."

"If I get out first, you join me and help team RWBY stop the Woman in Red. You don't help her. You don't run away from Vale. You join us."

Yang swallowed and waited. She wondered what Roman was thinking in the silence. He laughed. He laughed a lot. "Oh, Kid. That's a good one. You've got a lot of optimism in your voice. Best of luck, I really mean that. But… Don't get all emotionally invested in me, okay? I'm _not_ a hero. I look out for number one."

"I'm friends with Weiss Schnee! We could pay you!"

"It's not about money, Kid. Look, I'm sure Ozpin told you this was about good versus evil. Here's what it's really about. A long time ago, an Old Man made a mistake. And now he's using suckers like you and Nikos to pay for it."

Yang hesitated. She wondered if she'd heard him right. "What does Pyrrha have to do with this?"

"She's Ozpin's champion."

"His champion for what? Roman, if you know what The Woman in Red is doing, tell me! Maybe you aren't a hero, but there are heroes in Vale! We can stop this, whatever it is! Tell me what you know!"

"Kid, it'll happen before I finish explaining."

"Just tell me the basics, then! Is it another train? What's her plan?"

She'd never been more desperate. In a corner of her mind, she knew Roman was enjoying leading her on. He could be speaking nothing but lies. Or, he was confessing. She had no way to know. She didn't care. Anything was better than the silence.

Roman hummed, "You really want to know?"

"Yes!"

"Alright. Let me tell you the story of The Four Maidens."

"I already know it."

He laughed. "You really don't."

And then the cellblock door opened, and Roman fell silent. Yang sat back into her cell chair, frustrated. She'd have to wait for the story.

Someone important was coming. High-heels clicked against the steel floor, and Yang's heart thrummed with realization. The Woman in Red wore glass high-heels. She'd worn them when Ruby first fought her in downtown. Yang had heard those heels clicking, always a room ahead of her when they stormed Doctor Merlot's laboratories. Blake had chased the Scarlet Phantom to its vanishing point on the White Fang's train. And Ruby had followed the sound again, to the CCT's broadcasting room, on the night of the break in.

Now Yang was trapped in a cage, and the same sound was approaching her.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

Any second now, she'd see a golden eye burning through her grate, just like Ruby had described. And she would be at her enemy's mercy.

A chill made all her hairs stand on end. She felt an aura standing close, flexing. The heels stopped at Roman Torchwick's cell. Yang stood and pulled up to her grate to see Specialist Winter and her Retinue.


	46. Family Matters

Weiss Schnee folded her arms and glared at Neapolitan. She shouted to be heard over the wind on _Eidolon's_ deck.

"Look! Let's just skip the part where we-"

Neapolitan pantomimed something about not being able to hear her, followed by a shrug that meant, "Duh. Because of the wind."

Weis shouted, "YOU'RE UNDER ARREST."

Blake stepped between them and shook her head. She shouted something that even Weiss couldn't hear. Nea only folded her arms and tapped her foot.

Blake shouted again. "WHERE! IS! YANG!"

Nea posed as if thinking, finger tapping her lips, then shrugged as if she didn't know- as if she did, but wouldn't tell them.

Weiss pulled Blake closer to shout into her ear. "Let's fight her!"

Blake slapped her grip away and shouted back, "She can help us!"

And to demonstrate, she reached out a hand to shake.

Nea looked surprised. She looked uncertain. She looked at Weiss.

Weiss folded her arms and tilted her head disapprovingly at Blake. Then she unfolded her arms and offered her own hand.

Nea lead them into the superstructure. She had enough clearance to wave them past guards.

Their first challenge was on the cargo deck. They walked down a hallway, and a Retinue soldier walking against them stopped to stare.

Midori pointed at Weiss and said, "Hey. Aren't you Winter's sister?"

Weiss reverted to instinct. She snapped, "You're not supposed to acknowledge the familial relations of Specialists! What's your name, soldier? I'll report you to General Ironwood if you don't leave THIS INSTANT! If you know who I am, you should know that-"

Midori backed away into a side room.

Blake sighed relief. "Nice work, Weiss."

And Neapolitan added a thumbs up to her.

Weiss frowned. "I still don't trust you."

Blake put a hand on her shoulder. "Roman's locked up too. We want the same thing she does."

"Blake, we don't even know this girl's name!"

Blake pointed to her nametag: Neapolitan.

Weiss put her hands on her hips. "Oh, come on, Blake. That's definitely fake."

Nea rolled her eyes and kept walking. So they were forced to follow.

Their second challenge was at Yang's prison block. Nea pointed to the door, but wouldn't approach.

Blake and Weiss looked at it, then at Nea.

Weiss asked, "That's it? We don't turn you in, and you won't turn us in?"

Nea nodded.

Blake said, "You know we're not releasing Roman, right?"

Nea shrugged.

Weiss pointed to the door. "So… This is a trap, right?"

Nea nodded.

"It's always a trap," Blake sighed.

Nea waved farewell and left around a corner.

Blake opened the door. And there she met her lifelong foes.

The Winter Soldiers all turned and gaped. Winter stood at the room's other side, as if awaiting some epic encounter. Her posture relaxed, and she crooked an eyebrow as a question.

Blake gulped.

Weiss pushed past her and pointed, "Winter! Release Yang!"

From the cells lining the walls, they heard a scrambling sound. Yang shouted, "Weiss! What are you doing here?"

"We're breaking you out, Yang!"

Despite her certainty, the soldiers chuckled. Winter even smiled, though it was a sharp and cruel expression.

Softly, she chided, "Oh, Weiss. Ironwood said there was an imminent and specific threat against the prison cells. I see he was mistaken."

Winter looked past her, to Blake, and added, "I should have expected this from Weiss. But I expected better from you."

Blake didn't answer.

Winter finished, "You can leave. This is between me and my sister."

Weiss panicked. She didn't know what Blake would do. Blake was looking at Yang's cell. She surveyed the room. Weiss saw a look of recognition as Blake took in the soldier's faces. They'd probably shot at each other before. Blake gulped again.

She stuttered, "W-Weiss is m-my teammate. She's… My friend. We stick together."

"And I'm her sister," Winter corrected, "So I can guarantee her safety. But not yours."

Weiss grabbed Blake's wrist, preempting her fear, revealing her own.

"I want you here," she whispered.

Blake nodded.

And Weiss turned to face Winter.

She asserted, "We aren't leaving without Yang."

Winter snapped, "You can leave now, or I can arrest you both. You, Weiss, will be sent back to father. Your friend will take that cell over there."

Weiss hesitated. She gulped. And she whispered, "Let me do this, Blake."

Blake asked, "What?"

And Weiss drew Myrtenaster from her hip. The rapier's revolver action rattled like a snake as she flicked it out.

Blake stepped away from her, respecting the universal traditions of dueling. All the soldiers raised their weapons. But Weiss smiled. Because she'd made Winter gape. She'd finally unsettled the older sister's pristine aesthetic.

Winter stiffened and barked at her soldiers, "Stand down! You aren't going to hurt the heir to the Schnee Dust Company, and she knows that."

Weiss stuck out her chin to make a quip.

Winter interrupted, "But I will."

She drew her saber.

Weiss couldn't hide her fear. It was obvious in the tremor at her rapier's tip. But she was lonelier than she was afraid.

She said, "If it takes a duel to get your attention, then a duel it will be, Winter. You can't ignore me anymore!"

Winter drew her feet together and pointed with her saber, her glare aligning down the blade like aiming down iron sights. "You are a waste of my time, Weiss. The sooner you understand that, the less this will hurt."

In the moment after those words, all of Weiss' fear, and all of her sorrow, became fury. Hot tears burned lines down her cheeks as if defrosting a frozen heart.

She spun Mrytenaster's revolver to a burn infusion, the snake rattle echoing along the cell block.

Her last warning was, "I'm going to make you take that back."

Then the Winter Soldiers intervened. Agent Hikari stepped between them.

She said to Weiss, "Your sister loves you, but she has a very dangerous life. If you get close to her now, you distract her, make her weak, and she might die. You might die. She thinks about you constantly, and talks about you occasionally, but she's bad at expressing herself and she can't be distracted. Now's a bad time."

Weiss shrieked, "It's always a bad time!"

Winter nodded, "Especially now, Hikari. I'm settling this. Get out of the way."

The soldier growled back, "Make me."

Winter didn't. She hesitated long enough for Hikari to say, "You're out of line, Specialist."

The Agent turned and pointed at Weiss.

"And so are you. Your teammate isn't going anywhere. She committed a crime. She mauled another Huntsman, and ruined the Vytal Tournament. Not even a Schnee can get her out of this."

The door opened behind Weiss. She turned to see a flash of black and red. Someone strong and fast slapped Myrtenaster from her hand and lifted her by the throat.

Blake rushed in to help, but a quick jab to her ribs struck last night's injury. She fell over, unconscious. Weiss looked down the arm holding her. There was the imminent and specific threat: Yang's own mother.

Raven Branwen drew her katana and placed its tip against Weiss. The blade sparkled as it slid through her childish aura and pressed against her neck.

And Raven said, "That's where you're wrong, Agent. A Schnee _will_ release her… for a Schnee."


	47. Winter and Raven

_Eidolon's_ claxons blared. The lights flicked to a deep red, and across the ship Elysian knights stepped from their hangars and shouldered their rifles.

The situation in the prison had escalated from Intrusion to High-Value Hostage. Negotiations had devolved to overlapping shouting.

Raven Branwen was nigh-invisible. As the red alarm lights swept over her, only the black of her armor was visible. In darkness, the shimmer of her blade and eyes stood out. The dull-white Grimm bones on her face reflected nothing.

She had the attention of the room. Winter's soldiers had their weapons and voices raised.

"DROP THE SCHNEE!"

"SURRENDER NOW!"

"LOWER YOUR WEAPON!"

Winter panicked.

In her cell, Yang screamed for her mother to stop.

Hikari had her service pistol in one hand. With the other, she held her palm down and gestured for calm.

"Don't make this personal, Branwen!"

"It was personal when you used my daughter as bait."

"DROP THE GODDAMN-"

"She isn't bait, she's- Cherry! Shut up!"

There was finally order in the room. Weiss hyperventilated at the end of Raven's grip. Her feet dangled in the air. Hikari and Raven were the only two minds not overcome with adrenaline. Raven looked void of all humanity, neutral to the whole mess' outcome, like it didn't matter. Hikari swallowed and licked her lips.

"This isn't a trap for you, Raven."

"It looks like a trap."

"Sheathe your weapon and we'll talk."

"Release Yang."

"I can't do that until I know Weiss will be safe. No one's threatening Yang right now, so there's no reason for you to threaten Weiss."

"You have me severely outnumbered. I'll keep my weapon out."

"How long do you wanna stand here, Raven? None of us can do anything you want until Weiss is safe."

Raven turned her posture away from Hikari. "I'm done talking to you. Winter! Take some responsibility here!"

Hikari had exhausted her negotiation skills. She could only intimidate a Huntress so much. And Winter did need to act before Raven sensed weakness. The Specialist stepped forward, her saber ready. Behind her back, she'd balled her off hand. She only ever did that to avoid shakes.

From a steady façade, she announced, "Alright, Branwen. I'm here. My terms are the same as Hikari's."

Raven snapped, "Throw me the glove."

Winter looked at her gloved hand. She looked back at Raven. "I don't understand."

"No games, Winter; stupid doesn't suit you."

Raven pressed her blade tighter to Weiss' neck. Winter's hidden fist shook. Her façade sighed. She flared her eyebrows in annoyance. She sheathed her saber.

"You were right, Raven. This is a trap. But it isn't for you. Walk away. Release Weiss. Another Specialist can track you down, and you can discuss this with the bureaucracy."

Hikari saw trigger fingers across her unit tightening. They all knew Winter. They all knew her signals. Raven would say yes or no, and that would decide the outcome.

Raven asked "Is he listening?"

Winter was confounded again. She paused for that extra millisecond of thought before answering. "Who?"

Raven looked to the ceiling. "You are the aggressor, Ironwood. You set the terms. What is Atlas willing to lose for this?"

No one answered. So Winter took another step forward. "It isn't a war, you mad witch! Your daughter committed a crime. Now she's in a prison. When her time is served, she will be released unharmed!"

"There are prisons in Vale," Raven noted.

"She forfeit that option when she broke the terms of her parole!"

"She was taken here to draw my attention. And you were placed here to confront me." Raven looked inhumanly calm.

Winter's cheeks flushed as her patience waned. "I've already told you, Branwen, I was placed here because-"

"Do you know who I am, Specialist?"

"Do you know who _I am?_ You're just an average rogue, Branwen. Your name hasn't mattered for over twenty years. I didn't even know you were related to Xiao Long until yesterday."

"So Ironwood hasn't told you anything. Do you even know about the Maidens?"

Hikari's heart stopped. She saw Winter's shaking cease.

The specialist said, "Tell me what you know."

"Release my daughter."

Hikari snapped, "Lower your weapon!"

Raven complied. Her blade rested low, and Weiss sighed with relief.

The rogue hissed, "You're young, Winter. So I'll be charitable. Let me tell you what Ozpin and his tin man won't. If you won't release Yang after that, Weiss dies. How do those terms sound?"

Hikari scowled. But she felt true worry when Winter considered. And she lost all calm when Winter nodded, "I agree."

Hikari snarled, "You _what_?"

 _Eidolon's_ PA system scratched to life. Ironwood's voice came from the ceiling. "Winter. Release the prisoner."

Winter's head snapped to Hikari, and she ordered, "Belay that."

She turned back to Raven. "Tell me what you know."

But Raven shook her head. "Careful, Specialist. A moment from now, you might be an average rogue with a name that doesn't matter."

Ironwood repeated over the speaker, "The Retinue doesn't answer to you, Winter. Agent Hikari, release Xiao Long."

Hikari kept her pistol level as she cross-stepped to the cell and tapped on the keypad.

She only glanced once at Yang, to mumble, "See you tomorrow, Kid."

Yang brushed past her and squared her shoulders at Raven. The kid looked like she'd been crying all day. She looked like she'd cry again.

She said, "Mom? Mom, Weiss is my friend. Let her go. Please, just-"

And then she saw Blake Belladonna, face-down and motionless. She looked Raven in the eyes. But to everyone else, she said, "I'll surrender when I'm done. But don't any of you dare interrupt me."

She burst into flames like a demon from myth. Hikari backpedaled. Laser fire ricocheted around the room. All sense and sensation was overwhelmed.

Hikari had used the expression "Knife fight in a phone booth" before. She'd never had one till now. She remembered brief moments of the firefight.

Winter screamed, "FENRIR!" and her semblance filled the far wall with a glyph. The ancient spirit of the north wind stepped forth from the world of the dead. Its teeth lashed out.

The distinct soft-launch sounds of under-barrel grenade launchers sent a volley of dust effects into Raven's general area.

Yang charged and struck her mother like a meteorite. Raven didn't yield, but the bulkhead below her dented on impact, and Weiss jumped free of her grip.

There was scrambling. Laserfire strafed and danced around the room to Branwen's lead.

Hikari came face-to-face with Raven. The rogue was lunging and swiping her sword. Hikari lined up a shot and fired. Raven's body became a swarm of Ravens, and the shots passed through air. Her body reformed, and the strike proceeded. Winter pushed Hikari aside, saving her life, and the two huntresses collided like trains.

Xiao Long's scream became a roar. Her fire made the room a crucible.

It was like this every time. The Winter Soldiers would encounter a huntsman, weeks of preparation would be spent in seconds. This wasn't Hikari's first fight against an engine of death. But every time, it felt like her last.

Yang's aura followed her swinging fists. She left dents in the room every time she missed, and the impacts echoed around the chamber.

Raven gestured a portal open.

Cherry shouted, "She's running!" and displaced to the portal as a firing position. It would give her a good shot, but probably get her killed. Raven sheathed her blade and flicked the revolver action infuser on her sheathe, traversing the room in jerky-stop motions. Hikari couldn't lead her properly.

Raven drew again and flicked a wind effect from her blade. She'd lined up Yang, Blake, and Weiss with the portal, and the gust scooted them through. Cherry was flung against the wall. The portal closed.

And Raven, right as Hikari had her shot, became a swarm of Ravens. They flittered down the cellblock and out the broken door.

Hikari waited three breaths, to make sure it wasn't' a ruse. She glanced around the room. "Who's alive?"

"Orchid."

"White."

Cherry groaned and stood, then puked. She held up a thumb, then fell over again.

Hikari waved her to rest. "Stay down, Cherry. You got tossed pretty hard. Specialist?"

Winter only panted. Her hair had fallen loose. She looked at Hikari and snapped, "Where did she send Weiss?"

"Somewhere safe. She sent Xiao Long through the same portal."

White pointed out the door. "I don't wanna be that guy, but Raven can teleport and turn into a swarm of birds. Why'd she run on foot?"

Winter turned to the ceiling. "General. Where is she going?"

The speakers sounded back, "She's moving aft- To your operations center."

And then a little piece of that mad conversation clicked in Winter's head. "The evidence locker. She's after the glove. We have to stop her."

From the speakers, Ironwood added, "And, Winter… She's on the kill list. We don't need her for questioning."


	48. Glass Slipper

Raven Branwen found the glove sitting on a shelf. It sensed her there. The eye shifted to look at her. It blinked. She stuffed it into her pocket.

But she didn't leave. Like the beggar in the cave of wonders, temptation tickled her fingers. She had enough tolerance for one more magical construct.

The Snow Queen's mantle sat within her reach.

Summer's Cloak reminded her of better days.

The Fall Maiden's magic shimmered on a pristine apple.

Decisions, decisions. Boots sprinted down the hallway, and a soldier, not a huntsman, threw their weight against the door. Raven reached out to the shelf to ponder the magic in each item. She had time. She enjoyed witnessing struggle.

Hikari screamed, "Damnit! She's barred the locker from the inside! Orchid, get those satchels from the armory!"

Winter shouted, "Step aside!"

"Wait! That room's twenty millimeters of Adamantium! If you hit that with your aura, the reverb will kill us!"

Winter pounded her fist against the door. Into the metal she shouted, "We released your daughter, Branwen! Don't let pride undo your victory! If you take anything from that room, I will hunt you to the corners of the world!"

Raven loved hunting. She loved shiny, cold things, and obscure magic.

She noted an empty space on the shelf. She flicked open her scroll and placed a call.

Qrow answered, "Qrow."

Raven smiled at the familiarity. "Did you steal something from your ex? I thought you were past that phase."

Qrow sighed. "I thought we agreed you'd stop calling her that."

"Am I still allowed to call her a-?"

"No. And I didn't steal it. I just made a trade and didn't let her refuse."

Qrow had the strangest relationships with his exes. He didn't know how to cut people loose. Raven didn't know how to choose a trinket.

So she asked Qrow. "You know they have Summer's cape here."

"I know."

"And Amber left an Apple. I could bring you a token. Something to remember them by. I know you-"

"I don't drink to remember. Just take the glove away from Winter and get out of there."

She donned the Snow Queen's Mantle. If Winter wanted it, she could pry it from Raven's frozen heart.

Outside, someone tapped a magnet onto the door. There was whispering. So they had their explosives. Raven's time was up. She'd had enough to recharge her magic. She touched two places together, and a window opened beside her, out onto _Eidolon's_ deck.

Out in the sun and high winds, magic came to her like heavy rain. She needed another rest to transform and fly away, but she'd only need a minute. And there was no one on deck to stop her.

Until the cargo elevator turned on. She knew there were things in the hold meant for her. She didn't know anything else.

Over the PA, Ironwood's voice boomed, "Give it up, Raven. You can't fight the whole world."

A metal chassis rose above the deck's side. It was a weapon to surpass Paladins, a super-massive construct of guns, armor, and power.

The elevator stopped. The carrier's deck leaned under the imbalance. And then Crusader took two steps forward and bellowed, "Raven Branwen! Drop your weapons! You are now a prisoner of Atlas!"

Raven cycled the infuser on her sheathe. She had twenty stone charges left, ten burn, and fifteen freeze. But this machine definitely outmassed and outclassed anything she could throw at it. The safest decision would be to run away from it. But the machine had been made with her in mind. It was a challenge. Winning would prove her place in a world trying to leave her behind. She cycled the sheath again, and the infuser coated her blade with gravity effects.

She said, "You should know better, Ironwood. The bigger they are…"

Qrow asked, "Raven? You're not picking fights are you?"

"You're one to talk. Tell Cinder I said hi."

In unison, they parted, "Good hunting."

Across the city, a crow landed on the Vytal Colosseum and became Qrow. He stepped out from behind a pillar, and bumped right into his target. Feigning a drunken stupor was second-nature. He locked his ankle with hers and they both went to the ground in a compromising position.

He saw the fear in Cinder's eyes. She recognized him. But she corrected it quickly, and her façade shifted to young and shy lust. Qrow looked a little lower and saw the blush spreading across her skin. Her chest heaved with arousal.

Qrow thought, "Now _that's_ acting."

Cinder huffed, "Oh. Professor. This is uncomfortable, isn't it?"

"Sorry. I uh…" Qrow played into it. He let his eyes wander and look distracted.

Cinder coughed politely. "Um… Teacher, my parents are expecting me. And I don't know what my father would do if he saw us… Well…" She placed a hand against his chest and bit her lip, "Well, like this."

Qrow slid back so she could stand. He stayed kneeling while she rose on one high-heel, her hand on his shoulder for balance. Her other slipper had been lost in the fall.

She looked at it and asked, "Oh. Um, could you?"

She extended her leg, the long tanned thigh, her smooth taut calf, her petite and pristine foot, and blushed as if she expected him to kiss it.

Qrow pulled a different heel from his pocket, and very boldly slipped it onto its owner.

All lust left Cinder's expression. The gold in her irises flared. Qrow smiled like a predator.

He whispered, "What do you know. The shoe fits."

Two Atlas marines passed them, chatting. Qrow didn't motion for help. Attention was The Woman in Red's weapon. And Cinder knew she was in a bad position for a fight. They were still and quiet, eyes locked, as the conversation passed them.

A marine said, "Look, Steele, things are gonna be different in the SRS. Right now people think we're cool. For the next two years, everybody in our unit is gonna see us as the new guys."

"I don't think it'll be that bad, Cobalt. The Winter Soldiers are probably really chill."

They passed around a corner.

And Cinder cooed, "You know how to respect a lady's discretion. I'll give you that."

She tried to pull her foot away, but Qrow gripped her ankle, keeping her off balance.

He grumbled, "You aren't a lady."

She frowned, "Don't be mean, Qrow. We used to get along so well. That night in the tavern, you made such romantic promises."

He didn't understand. She noted that with a look of pity. "Oh, Branwen. You don't remember me? Maybe it was the wig. Or that waitressing skirt two sizes too short."

He remembered. He'd even told Yang and Ruby about that. He could see the resemblance now in her slender jawline. "We can play it that way. What do you say we go find a room again, for old time's sake? Somewhere private, like that carrier over there."

He nodded to _Eidolon,_ out in the sky.

Cinder faked a pout. "Last time, you gave me flowers."

Her eyes sparkled. And she realized, "Lilacs aren't native to Mistral. Were those supposed to be for Amber? Qrow Branwen, you are a _dog._ "

He snapped back, "Well you're a bitch. And right now, you're my bitch. So come with me quietly or-"

Cinder pulled a burn crystal from her pouch- raw, like she'd used in the field. And she shattered it at their feet.


	49. Dataclysm II

A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a flying carrier. And as Atlas was learning, more data did not equate to more knowledge. More Data meant more distractions. So even holding all the pieces of the puzzle, and more, Atlas was blind. Ironwood called this tragedy The Dataclysm.

It ended in _Eidolon'_ s DatAnalysis chamber.

General James Ironwood stood at the head of the auditorium seating and watched Atlas' eggheads dig through criminal connections. An analyst raised a hand.

"Keyword alert relevant to Beacon Intel!"

He gestured an image to the main screen: a scan of a Vale PD missing animal report.

The analyst called, "Keyword is Innocence. Is Beacon Intel missing a horse?"

Another shook his head. "It might be a project name. False pos?"

Ironwood asked, "Who filed the report?"

Keyboards echoed in the auditorium. "Emerald Sustrai. Haven Academy. Team Cumen. The horse went missing last year. Why is she only reporting it now?"

The door opened, and Fleet Commander Gray found Ironwood's side.

Gray reported, "Blackbird escaped."

Ironwood hadn't expected better. "How's Crusader?"

"No damage. The pilot is embarrassed, but fine. It fell on a nightclub, before business hours. The owner is suing for about ten times the property value."

"I'm sure Vale News Network is getting cashflow from this, too."

Ironwood glanced to Gray to confirm it. Gray nodded and flicked open his scroll.

He grumbled, "This aired two hours ago."

The video was of a faunus in a suit. Across from him sat Lisa Lavender of Vale News Network. Gray swiped them to half-way through the video, where the Faunus was mid shouting, and hit play.

"You know what I think happened? Xiao Long wasn't released. There was a battle on board that carrier- a battle between Vale and Atlas- Between Ozpin and Ironwood. And we won. But we need to mobilize! We need to win more and win bigger! We-"

"-Do you mean?"

"Hugely!"

"-But you do know that Atlas and Vale are allies?"

"Oh are they? That's nice. Let me ask you-"

"-We're- yes- no, we're allies, you can't argue-"

"How many- how many, can I finish? How many soldiers from Vale- how many Vale soldiers are stationed in Atlas right now? Do you think Atlas would be okay with a fleet of foreign warships hovering overhead?"

"Altas is only here to inspire confidence."

"What does that mean? That's a meaningless phrase. You keep repeating it."

Gray flicked the scroll closed.

Ironwood sighed, "And then there's the incident at the colosseum. How's Qrow?"

"Still missing. We think he attacked a student."

Ironwood squinted. "What?"

"Two marines saw him arguing with a student. The fight started aboard the colosseum. The Crimson Concourse is damaged. They fell down to the city and torched a library, then tore up Third Street from Main to Exeter, caught the subway from the Vacuo embassy to the bazaar…"

He lamented, "The train didn't make it. The line could be closed for a month. The fight continued in the bazaar, but now they're both missing."

Ironwood turned a serious glance to Gray.

Gray had caught it too. "When I say that out loud…"

"A student held out against Qrow Branwen?"

Gray remembered, "This is the guy who dueled Specialist Winter a few days ago."

Ironwood asked, "Who was he fighting?"

"Cinder Fall. Haven Academy. Team Cumen."

Ironwood looked at the screen, at Emerald Sustrai's missing horse report.

He ordered, "What's Team Cumen's roster?"

An analyst answered. "Cinder Fall is Team Lead. Emerald Sustrai, Neo Politan, and Mercury Black."

Ironwood nodded.

Gray sighed. "Qrow's niece broke Black's leg. Maybe he got drunk and picked a fight."

An analyst sat up straighter. "Sir, Emerald Sustrai has a PoI flag. Retinue Agent Ciel Soleil marked her at the fairgrounds two days ago. No memo."

Gray's brow lowered. He turned the suspicion to Ironwood, that they were close to something.

Ironwood nodded and ordered, "Visualize our data on her. Start with facial recognition."

The main screen flickered for a few seconds, then spit up a measly ten results.

Gray smiled at the progress. "Someone's been avoiding city cameras."

Ironwood noted, "Tukson's Book Trade. He set up in Vale?"

Gray nodded, "Yeah. Someone murdered him a few months ago. And there's Emerald Sustrai is at the crime scene, right beside Team RWBY."

The next window slid forward. They watched from Penny Polendina's perspective as Emerald stole a magnet from a display case and tossed it to Penny.

Ironwood wondered, "Does she know?"

The magnet snapped against Penny's forehead. Penny looked at the woman beside Emerald, but visual distortions blurred her beyond recognition. All they could gather was a red dress.

The coincidences were mounting.

Another window came to the forefront. Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black sat at a table in Beacon Academy's lunch hall. Mercury nudged Emerald and pointed. The two of them watched Pyrrha Nikos past. Not inherently suspicious, but in context…

The next window came to the fore. This was a still photo.

The women in the photo all wore Pyrrha's signature armor. They had their arms overlapping across each other's shoulders, and smiled at the camera like carefree soldiers.

Gray mumbled, "A Pyrrha Nikos fan club. There's Emerald, second from the left. Why is this black and white?"

Ironwood spotted the face that haunted him. Khali Belladonna. There was no mistaking her, though her cheeks were plump and healthy, and she smiled as if living another life.

Gray stiffened. "Wait. That's Blackbird. Third from the right." He pointed at Raven Branwen.

Ironwood asked, "When was this photo taken?"

Typing echoed through the room. An analyst announced, "We got this image as an attachment from BOobleck at Beacon dot Vale. He's the history professor. Metadata suggests he scanned this image himself just before sending it."

Gray pointed. "Who's standing at the group's center? These kids all look Mistralite, but that's not Pyrrha."

An analyst typed, and boxes bracketed most of the faces. Not the center woman's.

Gray noted, "Cinder Fall. Standing next to Emerald."

An analyst stood and squinted at the photograph. "I wanna say the woman in the center is Athena, First Lady of Mistral. But she pre-dates photography by… A lot."

Ironwood had no other leads to go on. He couldn't afford to let this die here. "What is Emerald Sustrai's current location?"

Typing.

But before the analysts answered, Gray remembered, "Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai got on a plane to Mistral three days ago. Because his leg's broken. How is Emerald filing a police report in Vale?"

The police report returned to the main screen. Ironwood pointed to a check box on the form. "In person, apparently."

A red box hovered over the horse's name, the keyword that had catalyzed their suspicion.

Ironwood asked, "What's the significance of the keyword? Innocence?"

Typing. The analyst answered, "Innocence is a horse. Beacon Intel is looking for it. It belonged to someone named Amber."

Ironwood turned back to Cinder's face, and finally had a name for the Woman in Red. "It wasn't the only thing stolen." He picked up a red telephone and ordered, "Connect me to Specialist Winter."


	50. Maiden One

Winter scrambled from her sleep at 2320. Her mind raced as she found her uniform. She slung her saber under her coat and clipped her scroll to the lapel. Her boots clacked as she sprinted, and the few marines on the night shift took that cue to make way. The corridors widened as she moved fore on _Eidolon_ and finally left the superstructure entirely. It was a feeling like emerging from a locker room into a stadium.

The air was thin and cold in Vale. It was thinner and colder at four thousand meters. And the sudden realization by sight- the sudden view from such height- was a shock she'd never really adjusted to. Winter stopped and found her legs again, saving face by steadying her pace to a walk. To save herself from vertigo, she looked away from the city's blue-green glow in the darkness below. Heights were the real problem. The cold never bothered her, anyway.

The deck was a mess of flight crew. Her personal tiltjet shifted its flaps and tested the engines for pre-flight. Orange jumpsuits balled around the landing gear and main gun, then stepped away with a thumbs-up to the pilot. The AI hologram returned the gesture.

Winter boarded through the lowered tail, snagging a seat just behind the cockpit, and locked a harness over her torso. Her unit was scrambling in from the crew quarters and boarding. White ran in and seized his magic detector. Cherry followed behind, hefting a pack of explosives. Winter tapped her lapel-scroll, and the display jumped forward as a hologram.

Ironwood had sent her intel. Pictures: Cinder Fall in a Haven Academy uniform, a map of Beacon's cliffs, a floorplan of the isolated chapel on those cliffs.

Winter's scroll rumbled, and she gestured to answer a call. Ironwood's face appeared.

He said, "This is it, Specialist."

She remembered her last day at Atlas Academy, standing at attention in his office and taking the job. It had been a long road.

She nodded her acknowledgement. "It's almost over, General."

"I've assigned _Woglinde_ to provide fire support for you. Crusader is proceeding to a concealed position nearby. I want you to use them as a last resort. The quieter this happens, the better. Is there anything else you'll need?"

Ironwood had never offered her an open-ended question. He must have thought this was her last chance to ask. She looked up from the holo-screen, down her line of soldiers, just as Hikari stepped onto the craft's tail.

Hikari took a seat and locked her harness, and the tail lifted closed. The drop lights half-lit to a deep red.

Winter looked back to Ironwood and said, "Thank you, General. I have everyone I need."

He nodded, and their connection ended.

Chatter from the cockpit mixed with the screaming jets and shrill winds. The Carrier _Eidolon_ 'sPA system drowned them all out.

"Clear the deck for emergency takeoff. Repeat, all crew are to clear the deck immediately."

The holographic pilot announced, " _Eidolon_ control, this is _Maiden One_. We are exiting high angle over the bow. Am I clear?"

 _Eidollon's_ comms controller, Fola Merlot, answered, "The show is yours, _Maiden One_. Good hunting."

They lifted from _Eidolon_ 's deck, out of its spotlights. Winter's last sight before the darkness was of Hikari watching her, and nodding in approval.


	51. Winter and Fall

Cruiser _Woglinde_ hovered like a storm cloud, crossing the shattered moon and casting its shadow on Beacon's cliffs. Cold winds tickled the grass and made the ocean sparkle. In the field stood a chapel to Athena Polis, protector of the City of Mistral.

Short, quiet pops disturbed the grass, and five black uniforms hit the ground. The Winter Soldiers doffed their drop harnesses and lifted rifles. Winter landed unassisted, fist pounding the dirt.

She ordered, " _Woglinde._ _Maiden One_. Report."

" _Maiden One_. _Woglinde_ Fire Control. We are five minutes to firing position."

"Acknowledged. _Maiden_ to _Rook._ Report _._ "

Midori answered, " _En route_. ETA two minutes. Jump jets ready."

"Understood. I want updates from both of you."

"Will do, Specialist."

"Aye, _Maiden One._ "

Winter signaled ahead, and the wind picked up, covering their sprinting with shrill whispers.

Time had ravaged this building. Windows had shattered; Stones had dislodged. The soldiers bled through the walls. Winter let them set up. She waited for Hikari to flash a tiny signal light. And then she slapped the great wooden doors aside and entered with her saber drawn and her off-hand clutched tight against her back.

Cinder Fall knelt at the altar, under the stained glass image of Athena Polis, waiting for guests. She'd decorated.

Leaves crunched under Winter's feet. Incense perfumed the air. Spices stung her nose. Overgrowth strangled the pews with vines and fruits. As she passed the isles, she saw more portraits, stained glass windows depicting each of Athena's battle sisters. Each displayed a palm, bearing the scar of their blood oath. The overgrowth framed them with flowers.

Winter stopped in the room's center and swished her saber's tip to the enemy. "Cinder Fall. You are now a prisoner of Atlas."

Cinder presented her hands. In one, she held an olive branch. In the other, she held five arrows. "Your orders are to kill me. But you won't do that until I answer your questions. So…"

She raised the arrows, then the branch.

The arrowheads were cut from Dust. These weren't decorative. These were her weapons.

Winter raised an eyebrow. "You would resist us with five arrows?"

Cinder nodded. "We are prisoners to Fate."

Winter sheathed her saber, and gestured to the olive branch. "You want to talk?"

Cinder set her arrows on the ground. "There's time. The moment isn't here yet."

Time was on Winter's side. She needed to drag this out to win. In her earbud, _Woglinde_ buzzed, " _Maiden One._ Fire Control. Two minutes to milestone."

She asked Cinder, "You want to destroy Vale. Why?"

"I'm going to kill Ozpin, and desecrate his tower."

Winter repeated, "Why?"

Cinder had the soft, curvy face of a succubus. When she answered, "Revenge," she looked only like a demon.

"Revenge," Winter asked, "For what?"

Cinder pursed her lips and strangled the olive branch. "Once upon a time, he told me I was special. He had a vision of preventing wars by unifying all the tribes. He told me I had the most important mission that anyone would ever have."

She put a finger to her lips. "But it was all a big secret."

She relaxed. "I wasn't one to blush and fawn over any cavalier smile. He was older. He made me feel important and capable. I'm sure you've heard the spiel, Winter. They all have."

She had- In Ironwood's office, the day she became a Specialist. She tightened her fist against her back.

Cinder continued. "He wanted me to kill. A person. A huntress. But I'm not like you, Winter. I said no. I tried to stop him. But I wasn't the only young girl he'd called special. There was another. Her only qualification was that she obeyed his every command. He'd given her a glove."

Cinder reached into a pouch on her hip. She had the glove Raven had stolen from Winter's armory. Winter tensed. If her enemy wanted it, she wanted it more.

She interrupted, "What is it for?"

Cinder scowled. "May I finish?"

Winter blinked. She nodded.

Cinder continued. "I survived. And I swore to avenge my sisters. In turn, with her dying breath, Athena swore to wait for me- that our unit would not cross to the Elysian Isles unless we crossed as one. Our blood oath binds us, even in death."

Cinder held up the glove. The gold of her iris blazed in one eye, and the glove ignited. She released the ashes.

Winter realized she'd had it backwards. She needed the glove, and Cinder didn't want her to have it.

On topic, she snapped, "Amber was the Fall Maiden. You assaulted her, and now you are the Fall Maiden. Right?"

Cinder tilted her head, navigating half-truths. "You're taking this far better than Amber did. She never even used her powers. She was afraid of herself."

"Did you steal the Fall Maiden's powers?"

"As a blood sister of Athena, the powers are drawn to me. I have title to them. They recognize me. But they can be stolen. They have been stolen, passing only through strife, for thousands of years, so that they will never return to Athena's blood. What I took from Amber is rightfully mine- Is rightfully Mistral's. But no, I am not the Fall Maiden. Not yet."

Cinder looked away, distracted, as if a distant noise had stolen her attention. Winter followed that gaze, and spotted motion. Cinder was portrayed in one of the stained glass windows. Blood pooled under the portrait's left eye.

"It's almost time," Cinder whispered.

Winter asked, "What do you mean about the powers being stolen?"

"Stupid doesn't suit you, Winter. Ask better questions or wait in silence."

Winter noted Cinder's expression. She'd seen the same confident boredom on Blackbird. It was a grand leap of logic, but her gut compelled her. Winter guessed, "What does Raven Branwen have to do with this?"

A dimple curled on Cinder's cheek. "You're as clueless as Pyrrha Nikos."

"What does Pyrrha Nikos have to do with this?"

"You're asking about the wrong girl."

"Who should I be asking about?"

Cinder scowled. "Why did Ironwood kidnap Yang Xiao Long? Why did he hand you that glove? Why did your father want a duelist for a daughter? And why did he name you _Winter?_ "

Winter repeated, "What does that glove do?"

Cinder's eye had glowed when she immolated the glove. The glow was returning with her mounting anger. "Don't. Play. Stupid."

The truth crept on Winter like a waking limb. She'd run from her father's life. She'd run to the military, to Ironwood. And the general had given her the same speech he'd given all the girls. He'd pitted her against Raven Branwen: The rogue inexplicably atop the kill list.

Winter guessed, "Raven Branwen is the Winter Maiden. That glove steals her powers."

Winter had never escaped her father. She could imagine him laughing with Ironwood in the parlor.

And in Ozpin's camp, they were toasting to Pyrrha Nikkos. Winter gripped her fist tighter, to hide her shaking.

Cinder's face softened. "You should see yourself: The Queen of the Wind and Sky, shining white like death, hyperborean and calculating. Perhaps you are the Eidolon who will polish the Tarnished Crown and restore the city on a hill. I don't know your future- Only mine. But there are six of you here, and I only have five arrows: I suspect that you will survive the night. I hope someday to call you sister. And I promise you, Sister, that I will finish the Crusade, and desecrate this unholy tower."

Winter was too furious to react. She hated Ironwood. She hated Ozpin. She hated Qrow Branwen and his sister and their nieces. But above all, she hated Cinder.

Cinder Fall had destroyed Mountain Glenn. Cinder Fall had killed Apple. Humanity demanded her life.

Winter only needed to hear that _Woglinde_ was in position.

She tried to stall with another question.

But Beacon's clocktower chimed, the bells atop the CCT echoing across the campus.

Cinder gasped. She inhaled and straightened as if a cold wind had stabbed her. Her eye glowed, as if a star had been born behind it. The star flared, and her eye ignited.

She said, "It's time."

Winter's earbud crackled, " _Woglinde_ is ineffective! We've blown fuses! Repeat, _Woglinde_ is ineffective!"

The end of their message overlapped with Midori's. "Crusader is stuck in the mud! I'm immobile!"

Winter drew her saber.

Cinder mused, "She wore that same expression."

Winter growled, "The Snow Queen and her fury? I get that a lot."

"No," Cinder giggled. "Apple, and her fear."

A window cracked, then leaped into the building and landed before Cinder. The glass golem stood, and Winter recognized Khali Belladonna's form. It moved like the faunus, glass ears twitching to threats, refracting light as every muscle moved.

Suddenly, all the fairy tale talk was real. Winter drew her foot back to a defensive stance.

She ordered, "A-agent! Kill that thing!"

The golem lunged.

Winter matched its refractions with the glint of her saber, guiding it off-balance. It brushed past her. She felt an aura; this golem had a soul.

Winter dislodged a spike from the hilt of her saber. Quick and precise, she pierced the golem to its core, and detonated the stone charge in the spike. The tinkling sound of glass shards sent a clear message. She turned and repeated that message with her furious glare.

To Cinder and her flaming eye, she growled, "What the hell was that?"

Cinder reached to her own portrait. Her armor and bow leaped to her. Agent Hikari fired a perfect shot- the kind that killed world leaders and painted their security detail. The laser bolt struck Cinder's glass helm and blossomed as a brilliant prism.

Orchid and Cherry launched grenades. Two more windows jumped to life. The golems threw themselves over the explosives.

Cinder raised her bow and drew the first of five arrows. Winter charged. Another window shattered. The image of a young Raven Branwen collapsed. Through it flew the real Raven Branwen. She rammed Winter aside, and the real chaos began. Grenades and lasers filled the air. The carpet of leaves struck like a match.

Blackbird swung her Katana and swiped with grim claws, her throat growling and clicking like a monster. Glass golems jumped to Cinder's defense, raising their shields and attacking Winter. She danced and killed. Spears and scimitars flashed in the places she'd been. Her saber maimed their images.

Winter shattered two golems, set a third off-balance, and entered a blade grapple with Raven. She heard her soldiers' revolvers barking. Glass sprinkled her. Raven growled. Winter channeled her aura and forced Blackbird back with a sonic boom. She checked her shoulder, looking for Cinder's attack.

But it never came. Cinder hadn't aimed for her. She released the bowstring.

Cherry popped. Blood stained the golems. Winter lunged. Raven intercepted. The bark of powder-and-slug side-arms killed three more maidens. Revolver chambers spun out. Shells scattered on the stone.

Cinder notched a second arrow. Winter feigned another blade grapple with Raven, juked past her, and charged the pulpit. She was met with a phalanx. Glass Myrmidon shields all linked together as an impenetrable shell.

Winter focused a glyph onto the floor and summoned, "Pestilence!"

The room filled with white smoke, and the first monarch she'd ended returned from its slumber. The Grimm fluttered into the room and ended all sight with its smoky veil.

She ordered, "Hikari! Withdraw!"

In her ear, Midori shouted, "Crusader's mobile again! ETA now!"

Raven sprouted black wings from her back and took flight through a window. The golem phalanx advanced as one. Winter backpedaled, eyes locked with Cinder. The smoke broke their vision.

Two golems chased her. Two quick strikes ended them. Winter turned to sprint.

The arrow struck her low in the back. Cinder's aura, on the cutting edge, felt like a frigid kiss against her spine. She didn't call for help. She was too shocked to believe it, even when her face hit the floor.

In the doorway, Hikari pivoted on a heel and saw her.

"Cover me! Winter's down!"

She grabbed Winter's collar and dragged her clear. Orchid and White tossed bombs into the smoke. Hikari hefted Winter onto her back and sprinted for their lives.

An arrow flew from the chapel and froze Orchid forever. White fired and backpedaled. Hikari ran. Winter could only watch. She saw White dodge a spear. He shattered two more maidens.

But ten emerged from the smoke. He spent his ammo before they seized him. They took him alive, as a shield. Crusader had arrived. Its jump jets softened the landing, but all ground shook for a mile, as if a meteorite had struck. Its canons levelled at Athena's troupe. Midori hesitated.

White's last words were screamed in frustration. He was looking through all the armor, at the rookie underneath. He screamed, "DO IT!" because he was going to die, and he didn't want it to be in vain.

Crusader's chain-cannon spun up, and with the sound of a millstone, ground them from existence. The cannon turned on the chapel and kept firing. Dust rounds ricocheted off the low angle and streaked into the air like fireworks. Brick and mortar became vapor. The image of Athena Polis disintegrated.

Midori had missed a spot. From the glass shards where White had died, Cinder emerged. Her sisters had guarded her in the onslaught. She tossed a deluge crystal at Crusader's feet, and the machine sank into the mud, unable to turn and engage her.

She notched the last of her arrows, and looked at Hikari.

Winter's heart stopped.

She looked to her immortal soldier. Her expectations were a little high.

She said, "Leave me."

Hikari hissed, "Like hell."

"You can live, Hikari! You have to leave me!"

"There's nowhere to run, Specialist!"

Cinder drew back the bow. Hikari was right. There was no cover, no shield against an arrow guided by Fate. Winter hadn't been a soldier long. She'd seen death, but never failure, and never so complete.

Over their radios, _Woglinde_ crackled, "We're back online! Give us a target."

Hikari panted as if chugging the last of her life.

She said, "Everything! Hit everything, _Woglinde!_ I want to see lights before I die!"

In the darkness, Cinder was only a burning eye, and the glowing insignias along her glass armor and bow. She held her stance, aligning a precision shot.

What Crusader did to a building, _Woglinde_ did to everything. A fan of blazing plasma swept across the fields. Night became day. The cliffs cracked and slid seaward.

Cinder relaxed her bow and laughed as the light poured over her.


	52. Cold and Always Yearning

At the gardens in Vale, the breeze blew a little warmer and sweeter. Frangipanis and Sweet Peas bloomed and followed the sun. Old huntsmen played chess in the gazebos. Children ran and laughed in the fields. Fish leapt from the ponds, and birds harried them for food. A cat perched in a bush and stalked the fall leaves as they tumbled.

An old soldier pushed a wheelchair along the path, until Winter said, "Stop here, Hikari."

The chair halted. Life continued without them.

Hikari said, "Weiss is just ahead. On the other side of the bushes."

"I know," Winter nodded.

Hikari walked around the chair and confronted her. "We fly out in five hours. Don't waste time hesitating. She loves you, and she misses you, and you need to talk to her."

"I don't want her to see me like this."

"This is how you are, Winter. At least for the next few months. Spinal bruising is no joke."

"I'm going to get up."

"What?"

"Just get ready to catch me."

"Winter- what?"

She stood, and Hikari braced to catch her. Winter straightened her posture and hid her pain. She took two authoritative steps.

Hikari looked like she'd seen a miracle. Then she shrugged. "Something, something, Aura?"

"Yes," Winter strained.

"Doctor probably wouldn't like it."

"I won't do it long."

"Go on," Hikari waved. "I'll wait here."

Winter found her sister in the gazebo. Weiss had been mid sip of her coffee. She set the cup down quickly and blurted "Winter! You came!"

Her sister's eyes held all the eager excitement of a child.

Winter snapped back, "I invited you here."

Weiss' enthusiasm faltered. Winter realized, pained, that she'd broken it.

"It's just," Weiss hesitated, "that you cancelled last time."

Winter had forgotten that. She didn't have an excuse- not a declassified one. She sat across from Weiss at the table, and noted a wire and microphone in the bush beside her. It was a blatant reminder from Ironwood.

"So…" Weiss tried, "What have you done in Vale so far?"

Two soldiers patrolled in the distance. Both were looking their way.

Winter said, "Classified," and wished her back would hurt more than her heart.

"But you have some time to do things with me, now, right? Or you wouldn't be here. I have tickets to a play tomorrow. It's a dramatization of the myth of Athena. I'm going to invite Pyrrha Nikos, so we can all sit together in the VIP booths. It's important to be seen with other famous people."

Winter thought a lot of things, and said none of them.

"I'm boarding a flight to Atlas in five hours," she admitted.

And again, Weiss dimmed. Her smile fell to disbelief, then frustration, passed anger, touched despair, and tightened as a disappointed frown.

She asked, "You're leaving?"

Her tone meant, "Again? So soon? Do I even matter to you?"

Six years of neglect were catching up with Winter. She'd wasted her time, and the lives of her adopted family. And she'd wasted the treasure that was Weiss, discarding her at every opportunity- to commit herself to Ironwood.

She looked at the bush again. If Weiss was clever, she'd follow, and see that no one on Remnant was at liberty to speak.

She told the lie Ironwood had prepared. "Yes. I was merely needed to oversee the transport of additional Paladins to Vale. Our last shipment was lost to an ambush."

And there she found a topic to rekindle Weiss' excitement. She looked back to her sister, curling and tossing a mischievous smile.

"I believe you had a run-in with its cargo, actually."

Weiss smiled. "You heard about that?"

"I did."

Weiss sat straighter. She looked away, as if waiting for a kiss on the cheek, or for a swarm of adoring fans to lavish praise on her. "And what, exactly, did you hear, my dear sister?"

Winter felt a deep joy, seeing her own flaws in Weiss. Nothing could tame the Schnee ego.

She answered, "It's fortunate that Paladin was an unarmored prototype. Otherwise, your team might not have fared so well."

Weiss grumbled, "We still would have won."

Winter didn't want to argue. She wanted to spend time with her sister as family. She didn't want to think about the apple charm on Weiss' neck.

Weiss reached for her coffee.

Winter reached across the table and placed a hand over hers.

Last time they'd touched, Winter had slapped Weiss across the forehead. And before that, six years ago, they'd exchanged half a hug. Even through her glove, Winter felt a tingle of love.

Weiss felt it, too. Her eyes softened at the affection, at the touch and understanding its meaning. She looked at Winter and smiled with relief.

Winter said, "Weiss… You've done… You've done well out here. You should be proud. And your team should be proud. Those Paladins defeated every specialist they trained against."

Pain gripped her. She didn't let it show. Forcing through it, she said, "You have a good team, Weiss. Stay close to them."

She hesitated. She didn't want to cross the lines.

She said, "Stay close to Ruby Rose. And to Blake Belladonna. Your team is your family. And, in the end, family is all that we have."

Tears welled up in Weiss' eyes. She stood from her chair, shuffled around the table, and wept in Winter's embrace.

When Winter returned to her wheelchair, Hikari didn't comment on the red in her eyes. She turned the chair around, to return to Eidolon. Qrow Branwen stepped through a bush to intercept them. He had a bouquet of chrysanthemums, to honor Atlas' fallen. He approached slowly, and stopped just close enough to kneel before her.

Kneeling was slow. He grunted in pain. Visible under his collar was the cast he'd been let out of the hospital with.

Winter snapped, "One sideways word and I _will_ get out of this chair."

Qrow chuckled, then winced, then handed her the flowers.

She accepted them with a quiet, "Thank you."

Qrow nodded. His features sharpened, and he asked, "You got her? They don't have a body."

Winter hissed, "They don't have cliffs."

They talked about old times.

Hikari watched children run through the park. Her mind drifted from their conversation. She wasn't there anymore. She was in Furburg, after the battle, watching Third battalion roll down main street. They were a klick up the ruins, just close enough for her to hear on the wind, "What the fuck happened here? These people don't have weapons."

Nearby, Cherry and Orchid were making bad jokes with a corpse. White was laughing. She found Gelb sitting against a wall with his rifle in his mouth. She rearranged the corpse and emptied his magazine and receiver- to make it all look nobler.

Walking out of that altered scene, she found an old woman, the same lion-faunus who'd read her fortune and told her to climb the North Mountain.

Hikari was only forty, then. And this woman was a hundred. Despair made her look ancient. She lay on the ground and groaned. Her voice was too frail to weep, and her legs could not carry her burdens. Hikari didn't know what to say. Sorry just didn't cut it.

The old woman's eyes focused on Hikari, and she groaned, "You. You are cursed. Everyone around you will die. It was too late for me when you entered my tent. Woe to those you love."

She coughed blood and lay still and silent.

Hikari was on an engineless train, curled up against White for warmth. She would close her eyes and float on adrenaline in twenty minute naps. The unique chatter of a BCS would wake her. Bullets would tear through the windows and ricochet around the cabin. She'd rise and return fire into fields of blood and snow.

She was in Chernobyl. Agent Soleil pulled her aside.

"You. Name."

"Hikari Oni."

"Have you read Crusade?"

"No, Agent. Not yet. I'm not here for the politics."

"You have no idea, then."

She didn't answer.

Soleil nodded. "Probably for the best. Men who see the future try to avoid it."

"I'm not a man, Agent."

"I know. Now take these explosives and destroy the food."

She was standing in a Spartan office atop Atlas Leadership Academy. General Ironwood looked out the window, murmuring a vague mission description.

She heard, "The world is changing, Agent. And the Retinue has to change, too. If you accept this mission, you'll be working under a Specialist. I've already selected one. Her name is Winter. Now I know this sounds-"

"I'm in."

She was at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Vale. She knew damn well who she was burying. Beside her, Ironwood held a bouquet of Chrysanthemums.

He was giving her murmured condolences.

"They say that on Peak Thirty-Three, you find out what keeps you warm- you realize how precious it is."

It was gone now.

She was sitting on a plane. Winter stared at her from across the aisle, hair down, top button undone, eyes still red.

Two seats ahead, team BLCK laughed and threw popcorn. They'd been eliminated from the tournament early. The businessman beside Hikari flicked open his scroll. Today's headlines: "Threat Level 2. Crisis averted."

Winter asked, "How do you do it, Hikari?"

Hikari turned back to her. "Do what?"

Hikari had never seen Winter so hopeless.

The Specialist murmured, "When I think I can't do it anymore, that I'm going to shatter and scream at the world, I think of you. I can't give up; not if I'm going to lead you."

"You would have been a fine CEO for SDC, Winter."

Winter tightened her emotions and closed up again.

Hikari asked, "Why'd you give it up? Why'd you enlist?"

Winter steeled. She'd found her strength.

She said, "She was fourteen, Hikari. What makes a fourteen-year old throw herself into that city and commit to humanity? I don't know. But I have no right to let Apple's struggle end without legacy."

Hikari smirked. "Good answer."

Takeoff. They levelled over the ocean. The pilot told them that Atlas' Third Expeditionary Fleet was out the window to their left. It was a bright glare on the horizon. Hikari reached across the businessman and slammed the window shut.

She'd drawn Winter's attention again.

Hikari reached into her breast pocket and showed her the cameo.

Winter frowned at it. "When did you get that?"

"Yesterday morning. Qrow traded this for the glass slipper."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"We were cooperating with Beacon on the investigation. All the paperwork was above board."

Hikari held it out, to return it.

Winter said, "Keep it."

Hikari slid it onto her necklace, beside four dog tags.

If they looked out the window to the right, they could see a pod of whales breaching majestically, or something. There were meals, but everything tasted bland.

Hours later, Winter repeated, "So how do you do it, Hikari?"

"Do what?"

"On Peak Thirty-Three: What kept you warm?"

She was standing at a prefab structure, five-hundred meters short of the summit. She hadn't been expecting a structure. The people inside hadn't expected a visitor.

After they warmed her up, the soldiers asked, "What's your name?"

"Hikari. Hikari Oni."

The soldiers looked at each other. Their expressions were strange. They looked back to her.

"No shit?"

She didn't answer. Another soldier asked, "Do you know what this place is?"

She shrugged. "The North Mountain?"

They squinted.

Someone asked, "Civilians don't come up here. What are you doing on Mount Blue Balls?"

"I'm looking for Winter."

They laughed. "Well you fucking found it."

She was sitting on the plane, across the aisle from Winter.

Winter asked, "So how do you do it, Hikari?"

She said, "I have everyone I need."

Winter smiled. She looked exactly as she did in the cameo. Then she swallowed her expression and returned to her hyperborean neutrality. At the same time, Hikari turned away and tightened her mouth. She'd crossed too many boundaries, and was close to jeopardizing something good. The silence that followed was too awkward.

She said, "Professor Oobleck sent you a video. The video Weiss wanted to see."

Winter didn't answer.

Hikari pressed, "The video Apple took in Mountain Glenn."

"I remember."

"You should send it to her."

Winter flicked open her scroll and did. Then she queued it for herself. Her finger hesitated, and she looked to Hikari.

Hikari nodded.

Winter hit play.


	53. Apple

Apple Schnee faced two soldiers. She lifted her scroll and hit record.

One asked, "Are we recording?"

Apple nodded.

The veteran said, "Great. Alright, this is Captain Satin Scarlatina, Vale Motorized Reserve. I don't have much to say that I haven't before, Velvet, but you've done us proud in combat school, and you'll do us proud as a huntress. Marron? Last words? Excuse me."

Scarlatina ran off screen. Out the window, Mountain Glenn burned. Sergeant Marron leaned in to speak. The window shattered, and Summer Rose landed at their feet.

Marron asked, "You alright?"

Summer smiled back. "Yeah. What are you two doing here?"

"Last words. You know, since we're all gonna die." He gestured to Apple's scroll.

Summer blushed. She stood and smiled. "Oh. Uh…"

Fourteen years from now, her daughters would huddle in their dorm at Beacon, and hang on her every word.

"Hi, Tai. Hi Yang. Hi Ruby. I love you guys. See you home soon."

"They'll appreciate that," Marron nodded.

"Yeah. Well..." Summer hefted her weapon. "I'm not good at goodbyes," she admitted.

She leaped out the window, back into the fight.

Apple paused.

She recorded again in an elevator, when her heart rate alerted the biometric alarm in her scroll. Amber, Summer, and Raven stood around her. Out the window, Malice crushed a warehouse underfoot. Raven murmured, "We kill the Fall Maiden. Then what? These Grimm have Auras. Vale will still fall."

Apple calmed her breathing.

She panicked again in the lobby. Raven screamed, "Amber! Move!" Then Amber screamed in pain and Sumer screamed orders and a woman in red strafed the room. Her glass high-heels clacked as she moved. Her glass bow sang when she fired. A rough hand grabbed Apple's shoulder. Agent Hikari of the SRS pulled her into the hallway. Cinder lunged and grabbed Hikari's shoulder.

Hikari spun out of the hold.

Cinder thrust with a glass dagger.

Hikari dodged.

Cinder swiped.

Hikari ducked.

Cinder committed to a thrust. The soldier was no match for a huntress' strength. But she had good training and quick feet. She feigned into the strike, then planted her feet and judo tossed the huntress away.

Apple knew she was in good hands. Her heart steadied.

She worried again on the highway. From the truck bed of a diesel warthog, she watched Mountain Glenn receding. She realized the full scope of this Grimm assault. Two of her class mates sat beside her.

Ciel Soleil and her blood-soaked her skirt.

Fola Merlot and her unfocused eyes.

Apple tried to talk. The words were too insane.

"Aura," she said to no one. "It's not- Grimm don't. They have auras. The Grimm have auras!"

Hikari sat on the tailgate, dangling her legs beside Cherry. They turned to look at Apple, and cast warm smiles.

Apple calmed.

Her last loss of control was on the Bullhead. The engines shrieked. Acceleration made her dizzy. Captain Gray shouted at Cherry. "There's nothing any of us can do! Vale's done for!"

Apple wasn't impulsive by nature. She'd never put a toe over the line or disobeyed her parents. She'd never done anything truly wild. But someone had to. She took a step between them, then over the side.

Her scroll rumbled in her pocket. Her velocity activated the distress signal. She spread her fingers and felt the clouds trailing through them. Moisture clung to her. She'd seen Mountain Glenn through an airplane's window, in summer. It was the little green gem beside the Emerald City of Vale. Now, breaking through the clouds, she saw Mountain Glenn burnt orange hues in the Fall.

She aimed for grass. She pushed out her foot, and beyond it, her aura. The whole life force of Remnant opposed her, like magnets wrestling, and she slowed almost to a stop with her toe just above the ground.

She never touched that soft earth, or saw the light of day again. Grimm eclipsed the sun, and the caverns opened their maw. The ground fell away below her, and she fell further. The caverns moved as if a black flame were licking every surface. Only the Goliath Malice was distinct, in its size and ferocity. She drifted towards the spire below the tower and stopped her camera to save battery power.

She recorded again in the museum, this time intentionally. She tucked her scroll into a breast pocket reversed.

Summer Rose asked her, "You said a sarcophagus, right?"

The huntress pointed. Four caskets, each for a maiden, sat on display. Apple pressed herself up against the exhibit's glass for a closer look.

"Huntress, these are literally sarcophagi. I need a sarcophagus to house the second stage Dust reaction, not a body."

"These are sarcophaguses," Summer hissed.

"But that one's made of wood." She pointed to the Spring Maiden's casket.

Summer pointed to the Summer Maiden's casket. "That one's iron, Miss Schnee. Will that work?"

Apple looked at it. She hesitated. "But… Is there a body in there?"

Summer snapped, "Can we use it or not?"

Apple nodded.

Summer shattered the glass and hauled it out. It had a body in it.

Apple stopped recording.

She started again in the CCT's reactor room.

Summer and the Vale sergeant dropped a glowing ball into the sarcophagus, cradled in the arms of the Summer Maiden. They pushed the lid closed.

Apple said, "Okay, we're done. This is going to be the second stage of the bomb. Now we have to close the reactor core and pull the shroud over it."

They did.

Summer asked, "Alright, Miss Schnee. What next?"

Apple gulped. "Well, now we have to make the first stage of the bomb."

The sergeant interrupted "Two bombs?"

"Yes. But this bomb will be much easier to make. We just need a lot of Dust. The first stage will jacket the sarcophagus. The jacket will catalyze the reaction in the sarcophagus. If we put them in the right place, the reaction in the sarcophagus will spread to Mountain Glenn's native vein. It will be just like Chernobyl."

Summer sucked her cheeks in. She looked to Sergeant Marron.

He nodded, "If we don't do this, Vale falls."

Summer looked back to Apple. "Where do we set off the bombs?"

"The synchronicity quotient will be higher as we approach the relative energy center of the Vein. But we also need that place to have a very high specific energy so the catalyst happens and generates zero-point phenomena."

Summer waved a hand to stop her. "You're, like, twelve. Don't talk like that. Just tell us what to do."

"We have to take the bomb to Merlot's Magic Kingdom."

Summer squinted, "The Magic Kingdom? The park?"

Apple nodded.

Summer turned to Marron. "I can't carry it that far. Would Scarlatina mind if I borrowed some of your soldiers?"

"Captain's dead."

"Who's in command?"

"I am," the Sergeant grimaced.

He was an old man, old enough to have seen all the death from the war.

Summer asked, "How do we get this across the city?"

"We'll, uh… Gas up one of the museum's tanks. I'll radio Winchester and have him improvise a Dust bomb. And I'll send Bronzewing to improvise another."

Summer noted, "We only need one."

Marron shrugged, "Two is one. One is none."

Apple's scroll rumbled. Low battery. She paused.

An hour later, Apple held out her scroll for the soldier who had brought the jacket. He was laying on his back, scared. If he were a huntsman, the gashes in his side would close. He stared at the ceiling and breathed. When she approached, he looked at her.

He said, "You're Apple Schnee?"

She nodded.

"You're so young."

She countered, "I'll be fifteen next week."

He smiled. "Fair enough. My grandpa was fourteen when he joined the war. Still, you were on that Bullhead, flying away. What made you do it, Miss?"

"Do what?"

"What made you come back?"

Apple hesitated. The soldier's wounds would end him soon. He did not have the look of a hopeful man.

She said, "In Atlas, we believe that selfless and noble deeds are rewarded in the afterlife."

"Elysium," he croaked.

"You've heard of it?"

The soldier nodded, and strained, "Tell me more about it."

"It's got… Grain," Apple remembered. Religion wasn't her area of study.

"Um... And there are trees with exotic fruits that grow plump and sweet all year round. There are islands linked by bridges of living wood, and caverns below filled with precious metals that sing like choirs. The waters of the ocean there are perfectly clear, and so healthy that the ancient warriors who drank from it became the first aural fighters."

"Will I see my family there?"

Apple hesitated. She said, "Yes."

A tear slid down the soldier's face. And he sensed, suddenly, that his last moments were upon him. He looked into her camera.

"Corporal Winchester, Vale 3rd Cavalry. I have a son."

He choked, blood leaped from his mouth, and his last moments were in convulsions.

Summer Rose grabbed Apple and pulled her away. They power-walked across the museum, to the tank rumbling on its platform. A platoon of men stood ready around them.

Summer said, "It's time, Apple. If anything goes wrong with the bomb, you'll be fixing it. So I want you in the tank."

"What about the other engineers?"

"They all died making your _easy_ bomb."

Summer patted the sarcophagus and the jacket as they passed. The bombs sat on a cart, hitched to the tank. Apple wondered if it would work. Her head said yes. Once the jacket exploded, the conditions would be just like Chernobyl- just like father had taught her to never do.

She reached out and touched the jacket.

"Huntress? Miss Rose? Where's the second jacket? Didn't they make two?"

Summer grabbed her by the armpits and lifted her onto the tank.

"It's sitting in a mine cart down in the tunnels. Two is one, one is none."

"Can we get it? I can-"

"-This is all that's left of us, Apple." Summer looked tired.

The twenty men behind her looked scared.

Behind Apple, the tank's hatch opened. Marron, the Sergeant, emerged and pulled her inside.

Summer climbed topside to talk to him.

"I'll be out here with the rest of your unit. We'll cover you to the park's center. Don't stop for anything."

Marron squinted, "Just you? What about the other two huntresses?"

"They left."

Marron had to accept that not everyone was willing to die for humanity. He nodded, and very sternly said, "Thank you, Huntress. For everything."

Summer nodded. She grabbed the tank's hatch, to close it, but spent an extra second to look at Apple.

She said, "Make this count."

And Apple was cast into darkness.

Apple didn't record the hour of awkward silence. She sat cramped in the vehicle, terrified of everything outside. Explosions and gunshots surrounded them. She knew when men were dying. They screamed for Summer. The only talking inside was when the Sergeant issued orders.

Or, finally, when Apple realized that someone would find her scroll. At some distant point, this would be her last words. She pushed record. The battery was almost dead.

She said, "Sergeant? I'm scared."

The tank's crew all gave her a sympathetic glance.

Marron nodded, "Me too. There's no shame in that."

Apple pressed, "But I feel like... I shouldn't have jumped out of the Bullhead. I feel like, I wish I hadn't."

Marron smiled at her very wryly. "Courage has everything to do with being afraid. Focus on why you did it. Try to remember."

Apple thought hard.

She said, "I saw that the goliath had an aura. I thought if I didn't do anything, it would destroy all of Vale. Because only I knew how to destroy it. So I jumped."

She shivered. Cold winds were piercing the tank's armor. They skidded to a halt and the driver despaired, "Shit! The gates are closed!"

"It's a theme park. Ram it!"

"Well those blast doors are real!"

Summer slammed a fist on the tank's armor. "You're on low ground, Marron! We can't stop here! They're coming!"

Apple couldn't reach the rifle slat. She held her phone up and watched as darkness peaked over the basin's rim. In a minute, the park's entrance would be flooded with Grimm.

Summer's face steadied, tranquil and pensive, then decisive. Her eyes blazed with silver brilliance. She ran to the blast doors and gripped them. Her aura burned, wafting out like the wings of an angel, then forming and fizzling like a wild Dust reaction. The blast doors groaned, then slid as she forced them apart.

The tank rumbled through, and Apple recorded a final expression on the huntress' face: Acceptance.

The silver poured forward from Summer's eyes, leaving her to form a shining orb before the tank.

Summer shouted, "Follow the light!"

And slammed the doors behind them.

The battle was silenced.

Loudspeakers shouted, "Welcome to the Magic Kingdom!"

The orb danced forward, beckoning, and the tank rumbled after it.

There was pleasant music. Apple couldn't stop her tears.

She admitted, "I didn't want to come here until I was with my cousin, Weiss."

Marron patted Apple's shoulder.

"You were right to jump, Apple. We've only made it this far because you kept the CCT online, locked the water channels, fixed the traffic system, lowered the bridges, helped us fix the tank, got us into the armory... And yeah, this bomb is our only chance at killing that goliath."

"I know. But… I don't want to die. I'm not..." she gestured at Marron, "Old."

Everyone laughed.

"True," Marron nodded, "But being old doesn't mean being ready. My goals were never as grand as yours, Miss Schnee, but I'm nowhere near done with them, neither. My grandfather was one of the great warriors in the Great War. I wanted to pass on that legacy to the next generation."

Apple looked him over.

She asked, "Don't you have children?"

"Yeah. Three sons. One wandered off to Vacuo and became a celibate monk, the second died, and the third got married and settled on a farm."

Apple asked, "Does he have children?"

"He had a daughter: Rouge."

"Can't he have more?"

"He had a second daughter: Blanche."

Apple was silent.

"And a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, and a sixth, and a seventh."

Apple kept quiet. Sergeant Marron licked his lips and shook his head.

He finished, "There's still time for a son. But I'm not hopeful."

Apple had practiced etiquette with a professional. She answered, "I'm sorry to hear that. I... I never decided what I wanted."

Sergeant Marron smiled at her.

"You wanted to help people, Apple. And if you were my eighth daughter, I would never wish for a son."

Apple had never felt so sincerely loved. She wished she could hold Weiss' hand.

The driver called, "The light stopped! Are we here?"

Marron peeked through a rifle slat. "Grimm?"

Sensors tapped his screen. "I think we're clear for now. Malice is almost on top of us."

Marron opened the hatch and looked around, then pulled himself out and offered a hand down to Apple.

She climbed up and sat on the tank's side, indulging in a long look at the happiest place on Remnant. She had a detonator and cord in a satchel. She slid down the tank and strung them to the bomb. At Chernobyl, this very same reaction had stripped all aura from a valley. Now its light would harrow the Grimm. She connected the cord to the detonator. An LED lit up on the detonator. She was ready. She looked to Marron, for approval.

He mumbled, "One sec." Marron reached into the tank and pulled the communicator to his mouth. He didn't look hopeful. But he looked at Apple, and when he pressed to talk, he was speaking to her.

"This is the Vale Militia, to any and all. We stand ready to deliver a final blow to Malice the Goliath. When this bomb detonates, it'll be lights out. All dustronic devices will be rendered inert. Find cover in anything lined with led. And if you survive, think of your loved ones in Vale. Will you let them cower in fear that monsters stalk them? Or will you take back the night? As for me, I will remind these Grimm that there was a time before Dust, and that humanity prevailed. The first huntsman was a monkey with a sharpened stick. So will be the last. You're going to die tonight. Take some Grimm with you. Sergeant Marron Arc, signing off."

He released the communicator, and didn't bother hanging it back up. Then he nodded to Apple, weary of the struggle. He was relieved of that struggle by an explosion of dirt. Writhing tendrils of shadow crawled up from the ground and sundered the tank. Apple was slapped away from the bomb, and the detonator left her hand. She landed on her back, breathless. No human weapons answered. She was alone now. There was no one to cry out to when a tendril wrapped around her leg.

The tentacle dragged her back to the bomb and tossed her to the ground beside it. She looked up and saw a black dress. There stood a woman with skin pale as the moon and eyes like onyx. Not a woman: A Grimm in a woman's form.

Apple's breath froze in her lungs, and she choked in terror.

The woman said, "Hello, Apple. My name is Salem."

And her Scroll died.


	54. Gautama

Two forces stood at the _axis mundi_. In a moment, the events here would preserve or destroy all human effort.

In one force, Apple Schnee, was vested all of humanity's hope. Blood coursed her veins and flushed her skin red. Her dress had been white; now it was a mix of remnant's colors, dirt and brick and Dust. All the training of the Academy for Noumena danced in her brain. She calmed her breathing and faced her opponent.

The Black Queen, Salem, void of all matter, stood at peace. A beowolf stopped beside her and bowed its head. From her dark robes, she reached out to pet it.

Her skin was pale white, like porcelain or bone- but it flowed like icy water. In her eyes, when they opened- and her mouth, when she spoke- were the stars of the night sky. And across her face were the red spiral etchings of the Grimm.

She wore a crown of ash and embers.

Her void gaze rested on Apple.

She said, "This has happened before, you know."

Apple shivered in the cold.

Salem continued, "You and I have stood just as we do now, and discussed this same dilemma."

She placed a hand on Apple's bomb. In the sarcophagus, the first of the Summer Maidens cradled a Dust reactor core in her arms. Salem was guarding the detonator, behind her.

Apple asked, "What dilemma?"

"To be, or not to be."

"Who would ever choose to not be?"

"You, perhaps. I'll let you decide. But first, sit, hear my case."

Apple lunged for the detonator. Salem gripped her arm, and was immovable. She forced Apple back.

"No. You have no choice about _that_. You _will_ hear me out. Don't worry; I'm hospitable."

She offered an illusion, bisecting reality. On one side was Mountain Glenn- on the other, Schnee Castle, exactly as Apple imagined it. There was an elegant table for two. She smelled espresso and milk and sugar. Her favorite cookies sat on a plate. The flood of sensation relaxed her. She shook her head free and glared at Salem.

"I will deal with you in reality," Apple insisted.

"You always do. Very well. Let me introduce myself again. I am the Black Queen of your myths. What I am is humanity's self-destructive tendencies. I am the nihilism of the age. I am the shadow you cast. I am humanity's desire to die."

Salem looked at her hands. "And so great is that desire that I have personified. Do you understand, little Apple? I am a monument to your sins."

She traced the red spirals on her cheek, as if pointing to words on a page. "My name is Salem, the oldest word for Peace." She traced the other cheek. "And when I grant humanity their last wish, they will be at peace forever."

She waited quietly. Apple hesitated, then understood. She curtsied. "My name is Apple Schnee, Tanist to the Schnee family. I was going to inherit the Schnee Dust Company and govern all of humanity. I want to lead us to prosperity."

Apple thought she was finished.

Salem tilted her head in confusion. "You've left a piece out. You have a simple soul, Apple, with very few moving parts. One, in fact. And it is not a subject to the causality that makes fatalists of mere humans. In every sense, you are free- even in the ways gods are not."

Apple thought it through.

"That doesn't mean anything to me."

"It's about to."

Salem held up the detonator, and explained, "In a moment, I'm going to give this to you. You have the power to decide, free of any chemical reaction or prior event, to end all of humanity's suffering."

"How?"

"Let me pass through this place and desecrate the tower in Vale."

"People will suffer if I do that."

"Only once. And then they will perish, and never repeat this moment again. But if you destroy me here, this life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence. Even this conversation will repeat, just as it has countless times before."

Apple asked, just as Salem mimicked her, "You've already taken the detonator. Why convince me not to use it?" Apple touched her own lips, wondering how the Black Queen had predicted it.

Salem smiled apologetically. Then she answered, "I am not a person, Apple. I am a force, personified. I am the shadow cast by humanity- cast even by you. For as long as you struggle, we will exist here, mulling this dilemma, holding the key to the exit. The moment you are too weary to go on, I will be here to relieve you with a serene and dreamless sleep. I am only here to grant you what you wish for: Strife and toil, or death."

Salem fondled the detonator. She waited, and the Grimm swarm slowly arrived to report to her and witness. Apple recoiled from the Black Queen.

She stammered, "Why don't' you just give me the detonator, then? I won't let you destroy Vale! Humanity doesn't have a death wish!"

Salem scoffed, "You've never seen a war. You are too young to know, but humans will slay each other for nothing more than glory. And they will slay themselves for nothing more than despair. Even your most enlightened monks will spend years arranging grains of sand into magnificent works of art, only to blow them away."

"But we don't want to suffer! We don't want to die!"

Salem smiled, "Look into your hands, child."

Apple did. She was holding the detonator.

Salem said, "Even the victory you seek is an act of self-destruction."

The detonator was back in Salem's hands. She traced her fingers along the maker's mark. She looked back to Apple.

"You know I'm telling the truth. Your little science experiment with the recurring machine has always haunted you."

Apple took a step away. She said, "I've never told anyone about that."

Salem answered, "You told me."

Apple swallowed. She breathed until she was steady enough to ask, "Suppose I believe you. Suppose everything repeats. My life is bliss. Why should I care?"

"You're an altruist. Or you wouldn't have jumped. Let me show you the lives you condemn others to."

She gestured behind Apple, and the girl turned to witness.

"Poor, young Cinder. The blood on her face belongs to her family. She's running from a monster of a man. For three-thousand years, nothing but pain will drive her. Look again. Here sits Noir Soleil. He has a chance to save his daughter, but he must commit to wickedness. His tears burn him. And over there, Roman Torchwick rises from the last of his step-father's beatings and grips a piano wire in his fists. He has finally nurtured the Will to Power. Follow me to Chernobyl. Place your ear to the ground and listen to their screams. Sins of this magnitude cannot be buried. And in the city nearest, see again as Atlas' Retinue destroys Faunus in the thousands. Watch as this lone soldier realizes what he is and plants his rifle in his mouth. Feel the scar that splits Ironwood's heart."

Apple bumped against Salem. She'd backed away. These people were living and dying around her and within her. She felt their pains swarming for her attention.

"Here Raven Branwen stands over Yang. Bone plates spread across her face. She knows a monster cannot raise a daughter. How many times must Qrow explain her absence? Look there, as Amber tears the soul from Khali Belladonna's body. In this instant, the two are bonded. They know that everything is a cycle; we are but specks of dust in an hourglass- continuously upended."

Apple tried to look away.

She begged, "Please. I can't."

Salem dragged her into it. The acceleration as they visited each location staggered her. Landing in each despair stole her breath. Understanding burned inside her.

Salem shouted, "You cannot care about the world and transcend it, Apple! How many times must Ruby learn of Summer's death? Watch as Mother Schnee realizes that you are gone! Tally the hours that Pyrrha Nikos will kneel and beg for her life!"

There the scenes halted. Apple was standing in the office atop Vale CCT. Cinder Fall posed as the isosceles archer. Pyrrha knelt with an arrow in her heel, one arm reaching for mercy. Behind her, Jaune hovered mid-sprint to save her. Blake Belladonna stood mid-leap from the shadows. Ruby Rose sailed over the balcony's side, cape billowing and sniper-scythe ready.

Salem stood in their midst.

"Look within yourself- within the psyche of every living thing, in the peripheries of every thought. There you will find the nagging realization: That you were created to suffer for a brief moment, and then to perish. You, Apple, exist to relive the same fourteen years, suffering the pains of growth and struggling through the errors of learning. Just as these souls are trapped in Fate's clutches."

Salem place a hand each on Cinder and Pyrrha.

"Despite their distractions, they are painfully aware. All humans are. Dread compels humanity. You scour Remnant for every precious stone, every gulp of water, and every gasp of air. Humanity's existence is nothing but struggle. Every laugh is tempered by Fate. Since the gods bade you farewell, you have reached for the heavens and felt them receding. You look into the sky and see the cinders of creation."

She stepped over a corpse, Agent Hikari, and gestured out into the Emerald City.

"Your stones will crumble. Your water will evaporate. Your air will turn stale. Even the stars will burn out… Until you… Alone… Are left in darkness. The only record of your struggles will be my testimony to the void. So it has been. And so it is. But… Apple, you can free them."

She reached Apple, and gripped her shoulders. They were in the Magic Kingdom again, surrounded by Grimm, standing beside the bomb.

Salem explained, "Your cause is pointless and hopeless. There is no reason inherent to existence. There is no reason for you to try. Yet you resist Fate. You struggle. I have come in the night to deliver the sweet kiss of death, but you pull away from my lips. When my shadow covers you, you squirm into light. Death is relief from your suffering. Why do you fear it? Let me destroy you. Let me destroy the tower, and let this play finally come to an end. And if you won't, then you must explain. All of my ponderings yield no answers. So tell me, Child: What madness keeps you focused in this last moment? For what reason does humanity persist?"

Apple cried, "Why are you doing this?"

Salem smiled and added a note of mirth to her voice.

"Oh. Questions instead of answers. Well, we are all children in philosophy. And we have nothing in life but time. What are you? A philosopher arising from matter? Nature made self-aware? Your answer must different from mine. The gods had their origins in chaos."

She pointed to Apple, "You have your origins in order."

She pointed to herself, "And I am merely a reaction- the shadow cast by humanity."

She pointed to the goliath, "Just as Malice was cast by the animosity between your kind and the faunus."

She looked up, at the creature blocking the sun. "Just as the gods shade us with Contempt."

Apple followed her gaze. Above them, through the hole in Remnant's crust, a colossal black Wyvern circled, eclipsing all. Apple looked back down into Salem's void eyes.

The Black Queen asked, "Why do I do this? Why do rivers flow down? I am only a part of nature. I am not free like you, Simple Soul. I am bound to humanity's wish."

Apple shook her head, protesting, "You keep saying we want to die. On that I cannot believe you, Salem!"

"Oh? Do you never wonder how the Grimm find you? Why they ignore nature but disassemble every structure and scatter every crop planted with intention? You must have noticed that it is the act of killing your kind that sustains us. You said you've seen the data yourself, how our population rises and falls with yours. We find you because you call to us, Apple. Do you know of a farmer who has not wished for a reprieve, even death? We absolve you of your struggles. We end your suffering. I bring you peace- and only in death will you find it."

Salem lead her to the detonator, then took a step back, and offered, "Now you must choose."

Apple hesitated. This was not a question to take lightly.

"And please," Salem asserted, "Do explain your decision this time."

Apple said, "We are born naked and ignorant. We don't survive by wealth. We don't survive for its own sake, or live just by sustenance alone. Life is about experimentation, exploration, expansion. Effort is joy. Struggle is triumph. Even discipline is an indulgence in being. Pain can be a source of pleasure. The phenomena you note are not examples of nature's victimization of man. You are seeing man's victimization of himself. And in that, everyone has a choice. Not just, whatever you think I am. Everything repeats in an eternal recurrence. So what? The lows are not lows. Even suffering can be savored. There was a time that I-"

"-Stood in a dark room and stared into the closet. You wanted to understand your fear. You've told me. But perhaps you would fare differently against hunger."

"Perhaps I would. But others have overcome it. I know of monks who even immolate themselves and remain serene. No matter how objective and fatalist reality is, experience is purely subjective."

"Bad is not Bad?"

"Bad is not Evil," Apple corrected. "Death is Evil."

"Well said," Death conceded.

She looked at the detonator, as if waiting for Apple to take it. But Death looked concerned. When Apple reached for it, Death snatched it up in her bony hand.

"I knew I'd forgotten something. Apple, why didn't you mention it this time?"

Apple swallowed her adrenaline. She didn't answer. She knew only one thing could break her resolve. So did the fear forcing her to hesitate.

She tried to focus, but when she did, Salem wasn't there. The detonator was just before her trembling hand.

Death smiled. The smile was not mirthful. It was cruel. Salem meant Peace. Peace was found only in Death. And Death was Evil.

Evil said, "Apple, we have had this conversation many times. I already know what binds you to this world. Here. Have the detonator. But consider one last offer. Disable the bomb. And when the sun rises in Mountain Glenn, soldiers will find you alive. They will take you to the castle in Atlas. I will even delay my crusade until you have lived out your days with Weiss. Only then will I release Malice and bring a final end to humanity."

She placed the detonator firmly in Apple's hand.

"Or… Pull the trigger, and relive these fourteen years of yearning. And I can promise that you will _never_ see her."

Apple held the detonator. It was heavier than she remembered.

She looked to Salem.

The Black Queen nodded. "Now, you have a choice."

Apple cried.

She wailed as if she would puke.

She gnashed her teeth.

She protested.

She threw her curses into the darkness.

She demanded that Salem return to Hell.

But Salem had left. She had never been there. Apple had only herself to contend with. There was no light in Mountain Glenn, and no darkness. A little girl meditated at the _axis mundi_ , alone.

The question: To be, or not to be? To suffer an eternal recurrence, or to revel in it with delight?

Though it was ragged, she savored her last breath.

She hoped that Weiss would forgive her.

And then she saved the world.


	55. Tremendous Moments

Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee sat in quiet and in darkness. Huddled in the corner of their dorm, their eyes focused on Weiss' scroll, the UI's dim, holographic glow reflecting in their aural irises. The last seconds of Apple's recording unraveled before them. And then that last light died.

Ruby had just watched her mother's last moments. Weiss had just learned why her cousin jumped. They stayed in that darkness and hugged tightly for hours.

Yang and Blake returned from the infirmary, arms over each other's shoulders, supporting each other, depending on each other. Walking into the dorm, the whole team saw each other's puffy eyes. They smiled, but sadly, grateful for their parents' struggles- grateful that they had been born to inherit the struggle.

Ruby sniffled her tears clear and said, "Team meeting."

They stood in a circle and held hands. Yang flashed a smile of pride to her sister on one hand, then beamed as she looked at Blake on the other. Weiss took her place in that circle and understood, for the first time, the warmth of a loving family.

Ruby spoke. "Our parents fought for everything we've inherited. But… They… Well, their work isn't done. We have to do even better than our parents. Because their struggle matters to us. I just want all of us to promise right here that, no matter what happens to Team RWBY, we'll all keep fighting for a better world."

Ruby looked for that affirmation in each of her friends.

Weiss nodded. "No matter what happens, I will right the wrongs of my family's company."

Blake said, "And I can't stop until every Faunus is given the same hope you've given me. When my work is done, the White Fang will believe in peace again."

Yang felt pride for her teammates. She was in the company of great people. She shied, "I'm going to find my mother. I'm going to demand an explanation. I'm going to be better than her."

Ruby finished, "I'm going to find the Woman in Red. And I'm going to stop her. I'm going to be a hero."

In another dorm, one door over, Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos sat on a bed. Jaune looked down into his empty hands. Pyrrha looked at him.

She asked, "What's on your mind, Jaune?"

It couldn't be worse than what bothered her. Her nerves had ben frayed by Ozpin's revelations, and by Cinder's insinuations. Now she knew, from rumors and her constant security detail, that Cinder Fall was her mortal foe. Out her window, down in the courtyard, soldiers and Elysian Knights patrolled with their rifles at low ready.

Jaune sighed. "I think you're a lot more worried than I am," he admitted.

"I am," she said.

She looked back from the window, to read his expression. She saw he was looking at her, now. Her heart skipped up to her throat and galloped in there.

"Tournament nerves?" Jaune sympathized.

"Yeah," she lied.

And he believed her.

"Talk about your problems, Jaune," she pleaded.

He crossed his arms. "Why?"

"Because it will take my mind off mine."

He softened, from defensive to giving. "Alright," he nodded.

His arms uncrossed. He gulped. He looked out the window.

"Lot of soldiers lately," he noted.

Pyrrha levelled her eyes. "Jaune," she insisted.

Jaune looked at her again. And again her heart accelerated.

"It's embarrassing," he admitted.

She giggled, "Even better."

"Yeah, okay," he relented.

Jaune lay back on the bed and sighed at the ceiling. Pyrrha leaned over him to watch his eyes as they navigated thoughts, and his lips as they articulated the story.

"Well, I guess I'm just… I don't really know how to put it. Remember when we went to the dance?"

Pyrrha smiled, "And we stole the show with that awesome team routine."

"Yeah." Jaune's smile faded. "Yeah," he repeated, "that was fun."

She tempted fate with the word, "But… ?"

"Nothing. I really like how the dance turned out. I had wanted to go with Weiss, but I probably would have made a fool of myself. And I would have missed out on all that fun team JNPR had together. But it's got me thinking, what do I do now? How do I get Weiss' attention?"

He looked to her for an answer.

Pyrrha felt a rush of heat course her veins. Her smile faltered. She leaned away from Jaune and looked out the window. She was quiet long enough for Jaune to start rambling. And then she could be quiet no more.

"WHY?" she shouted.

Jaune stopped. And so did Pyrrha. She'd never heard herself yell that way at someone. Jaune looked surprised, but wise enough to hold still and not risk further provocations. Pyrrha stood from the bed and illustrated with her hands.

"Here's you, Jaune. And here's the whole world, and all of the girls in it, okay?"

"Okay," he said.

"You are handsome, brave, cunning, and sm… Tactical. You are very good at making a plan and sticking to it. And you are funny, and fit, and… You're good company, Jaune. It doesn't hurt that you're a leader and a hero.

"Well I don't know about the hero part."

"You're studying to be a huntsman at Beacon Academy, Jaune. We are heroes."

"Okay," he yielded.

Pyrrha's hands moved to frame another concept.

"And over here, we have all of the girls in the world. And there are girls here who are smart, and tactical, and funny, and pretty, and who would probably be perfect for you."

She looked at him, hoping he would understand.

He swallowed and chanced, "Like… Weiss Schnee?"

Pyrrha closed her eyes and steadied her breathing.

"No, Jaune. She's… She's vain! She isn't even smart, by an academy's standards! She isn't particularly pretty or accomplished! She doesn't… What do you see in her, Jaune? What does she have that- that other girls don't?"

Jaune didn't answer. He didn't look stunned, though. He was thinking.

Pyrrha carried on. "Jaune, do you remember the first day? Initiation? Remember, they threw us off a cliff into a swarm of Grimm and told us we couldn't come back without recovering those ridiculous chess pieces?"

"Yeah. You, uh, kind of saved my life."

"And I pushed my aura onto you."

"You what?"

"I gave you a piece of my aura so yours would unlock."

"There's a word for that?"

"Yes, Jaune. And, _you're welcome._ " Her voice came dangerously close to a growl.

"Thanks again," he said.

Pyrrha nodded. She focused. "When I unlocked your aura, Jaune… That was… I saw in you a well of spirit, a deepness of will that… I didn't see a bottom. Jaune, when I look at you, I see… "

She held that back. She reminded herself to focus- that this was about what was best for Jaune, not for her. "Anyone who looks at you the way Weiss does, doesn't deserve you, Jaune."

Jaune kept his silence.

Pyrrha turned away, then back. She snapped, "And I don't see what you see in her. She's been nothing but unkind to you."

That was the last word for a long time. Pyrrha sat with her arms crossed, glaring out the window, to hide the tears. She saw him sit up from the bed, his reflection in the window pane.

He saw her tears. He looked down again, back into empty hands.

And he said, "I did a bunch of meditating with Ren. He taught me a lot about thinking before I talk. So I'm trying to practice that right now. Since I'm not, you know, very insightful."

She felt an intense pride for him. He would make someone else very happy someday. Meanwhile, Pyrrha would die on humanity's altar. She covered her mouth, trying to hold back a whimper. She was afraid. But fear is a weak emotion.

For Jaune, she had to be strong. She steadied the tumult in her chest, and wiped away her tears. When she turned back to him, her expression was placid and calm.

Jaune was still thinking. Every thought had its own expression. An eyebrow up. A frown. A tilt of the head. Then he looked at her and blurted, "Do you love me?"

In RWBY's dorm, the lights flicked out, and the girls cashed in on the rest they'd earned. Blake lay within Yang's warm embrace. They gently rearranged until Blake's fractured rib wasn't pinching.

There weren't any words exchanged or promises made that night. But where their skin made contact, Blake felt a tingling like electricity. And when she opened her eyes, she saw a faint glow. And then, within every part of her body and soul, she understood what was happening. Even asleep, lightly snoring in her ear, Yang was pushing her aura.

No suffering was unbearable in that moment. No memory of pain mattered. She thought: If only she could relive this moment forever, she would relive the rest as well. And she would revel in that eternal recurrence, smiling through the tears and dancing naked in the shrill winds of Chernobyl. And she would weep as it passed, as she did minutes later, when Yang spent the last of her aura.

And after she wept, she would persevere.


	56. Planning and Poise

Emerald Sustrai filled out the last square of a Sudoku. She tossed her scroll onto the table, beside her feet, and looked at Mercury.

"I thought today would go faster," she said.

Mercury nodded and frowned.

They heard the side door open, and Cinder's heels clacking through the warehouse, echoing in the labyrinth of crates. She rounded a corner to see her minions' drab expressions. She'd come with a smile. But it faded.

She said, "I thought you'd be happy, Em."

Emerald shrugged. "Part of me hopes…"

Mercury turned away from the window. He sneered at her, at her hope.

"Part of me hopes that we'll do this… And then nothing will come of it. But you're right. I guess I used to think I was taking advantage of good people, of their goodness. Now I feel like I was part of a big ball of vile things."

"You were," Cinder nodded. "But you aren't anymore. Tomorrow, we'll be back on the range. Our work won't be done until humanity has found the Better Way."

Emerald didn't react to that passion. She sighed, "What sets us apart from them?"

Mercury smiled. "We'll survive."

Cinder nodded. "They will destroy each other. And we will not. Everything from our planning to our poise is different. It's just like you said: Let people suffer for their own actions. Then save them."

"I don't remember saying that," Emerald mumbled.

"It was a long time ago." She turned to Mercury. "Are you ready?"

He grinned, "Yeah."

"Good. You two should be at the stadium."

* * *

Aboard _Eidolon_ , a lone Retinue soldier sat on a crate. The day's maintenance crew walked past her to start their shift. She didn't look at them. She reached a hand out to Crusader. The machine sat idle before her. It deserved a better pilot. Ten-thousand hours of experience and she still couldn't live up to its capabilities. The machine had surpassed humanity.

She flipped open the ammo hopper and pulled the lift-assist crane closer. She needed to take her mind off things like death. She'd worked hard to be a Winter Soldier. She'd slept in a bunk for years, looking up every night at their roster, at the blank slot on the spread sheet. She had idolized them, and studied the unit's citations. The psychologist had to slow her down when she interpreted them into prophecies from Crusade.

She remembered shouting, "You don't get it! HIKARI! ONI! DO YOU NOT FUCKING SEE THE CONNECTION?!"

She chuckled. She needed to forget. The Winter Soldiers were gone. Her life needed a new meaning. To transition, she needed to avoid the void.

So she reached the crane into Crusader's ammo hopper and turned her high impact cartridges. The foundry used recycled metal, and didn't refire the casings. Sometimes- Often, leftover typography engraved her ammo.

She liked digging through the random words, some incomplete, some perfectly legible. She liked to organize them and find meaning in the jumble. She never had. The work was slow and tedious. She relaxed her grip on time, and let the cord trail away from her. At some point, she heard someone from the fleet approach her. The unique clack of heels. She didn't turn to greet them, and they didn't scold her.

After she'd spelled out, "What We Make For Ourselves," she cast a glance. An ensign. Eighteen, at most. Whatever. She went back to work.

She said, "The best thing in life, kid, is to belong. When you don't belong… You don't exist. You don't want to."

Neapolitan stayed and watched for a while. But she didn't answer.

* * *

On Beacon's Oceanside cliffs, Headmaster Ozpin stood and sipped his coffee. His emerald scarf flapped in the wind.

Beside him, Glynda took a step forward, cautious, to the cliff's edge. She looked down. Ordnance from the cruiser _Woglinde_ had cast land into sea. All that remained of Athena's chapel was a cornerstone dangling over the ledge.

Ozpin grumbled, "I don't like losing ground to Ironwood."

Glynda stepped back to Ozpin's side and swallowed. There was nothing she could say in James' defense.

She shrugged, "Three Atlas soldiers died in the fight. We should have been present at the ceremony."

Ozpin snapped, "You're repeating yourself Glynda. I made a decision. And so did General Ironwood. He authorized a strike on my campus without warning me."

"He may suspect a leak in Beacon Intelligence."

"He _suspected_ ," Ozpin corrected, "That we wouldn't notice."

"We're all fighting for the same cause, Ozpin."

"No, Glynda. For the moment, our interests align. But no, we are not fighting for the same reasons."

He turned a glare to her. "Who did Ironwood send to fight her?"

"Specialist Winter Schnee."

"Winter," Ozpin repeated.

Glynda thought through the implication. "I don't think that was his intention, Ozpin. Ironwood needs Winter to take the Winter Maiden's power. He wouldn't risk an asset that valuable just to steal the Fall Maiden from under you. He's a military man. He knows the value of an alliance."

"He already tried to take the Winter Maiden. And he failed."

"When?"

"Remember when Xiao Long injured Mercury Black? Ironwood came into my office screaming that Yang should be held as his prisoner. He arrested Yang to provoke Raven. And then she knocked his giant robot off of the carrier- the same robot that he brought to this fight. We can infer that it belongs to Winter's retinue. And no, Glynda, Ironwood does not value an alliance with Vale. Not the day before we are destroyed."

Dire metaphors were the last stage of Ozpin's moods. Glynda kept quiet while Ozpin seethed. He finally asked, "Cinder Fall."

Glynda flicked her scroll open and handed it to Ozpin.

"Bartholomew found this photograph in an old book. He sent it to you, Qrow, me, and James. Qrow acted on it first and attacked her at the stadium. She disappeared, but Ironwood found her later at the chapel."

As she talked, she watched Ozpin's eyes dance over the image. He recognized Pyrrha's lookalike, Athena. He recognized Cinder's lookalike. His eyes kept moving. He recognized others; He recognized _all_ of them. He handed the scroll back to Glynda, but did not comment. He was done.

So she changed the subject. "I've had a side project going for a while now. And I think you might be interested in the results."

He kept his chin to the sea, but looked at her through the corner of his eye.

She announced, "Jaune Arc has never been to combat school. He forged his transcripts."

"I know. But it's been a year, and he's more than proven himself, hasn't he?"

Glynda bit her tongue. She'd spent at least a week of work on this because Ozpin's dismissiveness was founded on skepticism. She snapped, "You _knew_? Is there anything you've been withholding about other students? Like why you recruited Pyrrha Nikos?"

"Her credentials were impeccable. You know that."

"And Weiss Schnee? Did we really need to pay her to attend?"

"It was an investment in Beacon's Prestige."

"Then what was Blake Belladonna?"

"A proven fighter."

"A proven _terrorist_ , Ozpin. And what about Ruby Rose? She's fourteen!"

"That was your idea."

"I'm not so sure. What do you see in them?"

Ozpin's voice turned distant and academic. He mused, "Isn't it an interesting coincidence that they formed a team so quickly?"

She was losing her calm. "Ozpin, you threw them into a forest overrun with Grimm. Of course they formed a team."

"I told them to group with the first person they made eye contact with. Weiss Schnee cheated. Blake Belladonna intentionally avoided others until she met Yang."

"Well Jaune Arc got lucky. And Pyrrha Nikos got very _unlucky_. We shouldn't have her paired with a cheater."

"You're remembering it wrong, Glynda. Pyrrha Nikos spotted him from a kilometer away. And without knowing his heritage, one great warrior recognized another."

"His heritage?"

"Arc. History has mostly forgotten the name, but they've contributed rather well to all of Remnant's wars."

Glynda closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing. Ozpin had made a name for himself as just and stable. Now she felt like he was stripping that disguise and revealing a madman governed by the heuristics of a dove.

She needed to gather her thoughts and try this again later. She needed to change the subject for now, to something she could manage.

"I'd like you to see a report on Arc's behavior. Later. In the mean time, let me remind you that there are five hundred applications awaiting a response before next semester and you've yet to review a single one. Next year is only-"

"There won't be a next year, Glynda."

He tossed the dregs of his coffee over the cliff, then turned and walked back to campus.


	57. Nocturne Prelude

Penny Polendina faced a closed elevator and passed the time by humming. Every few seconds, she turned around to see Ciel Soleil standing at attention.

She finally asked, "Miss Ciel, are you a robot?"

"No, Ma'am."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"How can you stand still for so long? And why do you always say things the same way?"

"Discipline. Ma'am, have you been paying attention?"

"No. Were you talking, Miss Ciel?"

"I'm briefing you on what we know about Pyrrha Nikos. We suspect she has a discrete semblance, and you might need to know what we know, so that you win. We don't want you going back to Atlas in pieces."

Penny faced the elevator. The screen above it showed Professors Port and Oobleck commentating the tournament.

Still facing the screen, she said, "I'm not going back to Atlas, Ciel."

Ciel tilted her head. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but General Ironwood will decide that."

"I'm staying in Vale, with my friend Ruby."

She turned to glare at Ciel, to challenge her resolve. Ciel finally broke her stoic act and smiled at the naivety.

She was about to answer the robot, when Penny interrupted, "And you're going to help me."

Ciel laughed, then straightened her features. "I'm sorry, Miss, but I why would I do that?"

"Because we're sisters."

Ciel laughed again. Penny looked serious. So she indulged the game.

"Alright, Ma'am. What do you want me to do?"

Penny smiled with excitement.

"In a moment, I'm going to go up on stage. They're going to pick me. I made sure of it. And then some things are going to happen, but don't panic, okay? I need you to take my RAM module and my CPU to Crusader, on the hangar deck of _Eidolon_. There's a slot for them inside the cockpit. After you do that, type your credentials into the console and I can do the rest."

She smiled reassuringly. Ciel gaped, scared. She didn't' know if anyone was listening.

She hissed, "W-wh-where… How do you know all of that?"

"Father told me. He said I need to know because he loves me and cares about me."

"Then we do not have the same father," Ciel asserted.

"Now," Ciel held up her pinkie finger, to stop Penny. The robot turned rigid, and stood transfixed on the digit. Ciel ordered, "Penny… Stop telling lies."

"I am not lying, Miss Ciel."

"Who is your father, Penny?"

"Noir Soleil. Former Agent of the Black Suns, contributor to Dreizehn, husband of Sunrise Soleil, and father of two: Ciel and Copper."

Ciel waited for the glitch. Penny couldn't lie without hiccupping. She didn't hiccup. She didn't lie.

Ciel lowered her pinkie, and Penny was released.

Penny pulled out her scroll and said, "It's all a matter of public record, Ciel. Do you mind if I stop calling you Miss? Here, let me show you."

Across the stadium, a room full of soldiers stood around Pyrrha Nikos. There had been little explanation for the destruction of Beacon's cliffs. But everyone knew Atlas lost soldiers there. The rumor was a White Fang arrest. Pyrrha knew better. The Fall Maiden had been living two doors down from her.

The night of that battle on the cliffs, Cinder had left a letter on JNPR's door. Pyrrha had it now. Her hands shook as she opened it. Cinder had written with blood on papyrus, and not in the mortal tongue. The page unfolded, and Pyrrha was holding a flat, off-white square covered in overlapping spirals, like the bone plate on a Grimm.

One of her guards gaped at it. She heard him whisper, "What the…"

Another turned to look, and she soon had a whole peanut gallery of comments.

"Is that, like, a curse?"

"Maybe it's supposed to mean something."

"It's just a bunch of circles."

It scared her. But her eyes were drawn to the beginning of a line, and she was scared more that she could read it. She didn't know how. There were no words. But no matter the madness of the sender, the message was meant for her.

It read, "Tradition is a funny thing, Pyrrha. Break it down to its elements, knowledge composed of rituals and symbols, and you will find nothing that can survive the passage of time. Nothing but diligence.

I see that diligence in you. You are just as we were. In another life, I would have called you sister. For now, I hope to call you friend. I've enclosed here a cut of your hair, and an olive branch, as proof of my intentions. I know what Ozpin plans for you. Maybe he's even shown you Amber, in that cold, dark place. It is not a fate I wish on anyone, least of all you.

So I've written to beg you: Do not let them place you on their Altar. Their sins are not yours. After your match, leave Vale.

Run. And do not look back.

When they look skyward and pray for you to avenge them, do not answer.

Your Friend, Fall."

Her scroll rumbled. Jaune had sent a picture of the whole team giving a thumbs up. Even Ren had a mild smile. A text followed.

"You got this!"

Beside her, the holo-screen showed two wheels spinning. They were about to choose contestants for the day. She put the letter away and quickly typed, "Someday the whole world will see what I see in you."

She hit send.

Out in the field, Cobalt and Steele hiked. They'd been hiking all afternoon. They'd be hiking all night, adventuring as a duo along Vale's outer perimeter. They stopped for water. They looked at the setting sun.

Cobalt whispered, "Nice."

Steele nodded. They hiked up a hill. At its crest, they found another duo.

Cobalt greeted, "Frosty?"

They answered, "Oorah."

The duos bumped fists.

Cobalt and Steele took up the post, while the others set off down the hill.

They stood for an hour.

Cobalt said, "I kinda miss Ruby and Weiss."

Steele cast a concerned glare at him. Cobalt flipped him off. The horizon stopped glowing, and the laser lights at the stadium turned on.

Steele said, "I'm gonna miss Vale."

Cobalt agreed, "Gonna miss the corps."

They looked at each other. They laughed. Their acceptance to the Retinue was made official that morning. Cobalt checked his shoulders. The horizon was clear in all directions. The Grimm were gone. He flicked open his scroll.

"Tourney?"

"Tourney."

They stood atop the hill, overlooking the emerald city, a faint glow from the scroll illuminating them, and the moon slowly rising.

Up above, _Eidolon_ drifted like a cloud. Fleet Commander Gray stepped on to the bridge and saluted his greeting.

"As you were. Merlot, any alerts?"

He looked to the Comms station, where Fola Merlot shook her head. "Nothing from StratCom." She looked to Ramadi Katt, at tracking.

He shook his head. "We're still at Threat Level Two. DefCon six. Swarms are wandering. No apparent pattern. Low agitation."

Gray nodded, "Good. I'd like everyone's attention. Merlot, put me through to the Fleet."

Fola flicked some switches. "You're live, Sir."

He looked out the main viewport, over all of Vale and his Expeditionary Force. He said, "I was at Chernobyl."

In distant mirages, he could see the laborers writhing and wailing. He saw them now, dancing in the dark heat rising from the carrier's deck.

"And I oversaw the evacuation from Mountain Glenn." He closed his fist. Apple had left a scar in his palm, when he caught her by the necklace. The scar pressed into him, and he could feel her dangling there.

He finished, "I want everyone in this fleet to be clear. If Vale is threatened, we aren't leaving them. Not again. That is all."

He gestured, and Fola cut them off.

Gray sighed, "Now connect me to General Ironwood."

Fola worked. A phone rang. And Ironwood's hologram appeared on the bridge beside Gray. The General was walking in the stadium.

He said, "Go ahead, Gray."

"We have new information about Ashes One Ashes. Dreizehn, the R&D lab, has admitted that it's a dead man's trigger."

"What?"

"Every hour, it sends out a message. The message is received by another program, Ashes Two Ashes. If the message isn't received, something triggers. Entering Noir's credentials into Ashes One Ashes primed the trigger. But as long as the dead man keeps pinging, the program is useless to Roman's hacker.

Ironwood found a seat in the stadium. He answered, "So we need to find the Dead Man. Presumably, our hacker."

Gray nodded his agreement. "Right. But that just raises more questions. It's Soleil's program. Why didn't he make himself the Dead Man? And why did he use Roman as a go between to this hacker? And why didn't he tell anyone about this? It doesn't function as a deterrent if no one knows about it."

Gray sighed, "I don't think we'll make any progress trying to think from his perspective. Noir Soleil didn't care about anything but himself."

The ambiance around Ironwood got loud. Gray heard over the speakers, "Our contestants are! … Pyrrha Nikos! And Penny Polendina!"

And Ironwood remembered, "Yes he did."

He jumped from his chair into a sprint, shouting, "Ciel! Get Penny off that stage!"

On the prison deck, Roman Torchwick put on his hat, then twirled his cane. Neo hugged him. And he whispered to her, "Remember, Kid. There's only one rule tonight."


	58. This Was Not an Accident

Ciel scrolled through the facts, her attention consumed by revelation. Penny was her sister. It wasn't deniable. Everything about her father's work suddenly clicked. She looked up at Penny, and then past her, at the roulette wheel.

"M-ma'am. Penny."

She pointed. Penny and Pyrrha were today's fight. The elevator platform opened, and Penny stepped on. She turned and faced Ciel.

"Remember what I said, okay? My processor and RAM both have to go into Crusader."

"But, Wait!" The doors closed as Ciel reach for her. "Penny! What's going to happen?"

Penny scolded her through the glass. "I have a lot riding on you, Ciel! Don't Panic!"

The ceiling opened above Penny, and she was raised onto the stage.

Ironwood's voice blared over Ciel's watch. "Ciel! Get Penny off that stage!"

She couldn't get through from here. She turned and sprinted out of the ready room. She could run four-hundred meters in a minute. She needed to, to reach the stage. Her legs pumped. Twenty meters down the hall, she heard a shotgun. Pellets ricocheted around her. Ruby Rose passed her in retreat, and Ciel slid under a jump-kick. She recognized Mercury Black.

She kept running. Saving Ruby wasn't her mission. She turned up the walkway to the stands and shouted into her collar, "Security! Mercury Black in the Gold Concourse!"

There was a great cry from the fans, a scream of horror. And she crested into the stands to see what she feared.

She vaulted the railing, rolled under the shield, and climbed onto stage with security. She was in a swarm of Medics and Elysian Knights. She ran to the wreckage. Penny's top-half lay static in a pool of oil. Ruby was there first, in a red flash that trailed rose petals. She slid to Penny's side and looked for signs of life. The wires and oil didn't surprise her.

She looked up at Ciel.

Ciel said, "I can save her. I just need-"

Penny's swords had scattered around her. Ruby snatched one up and lunged- again, unnaturally fast. She brushed Ciel aside, raised the blade, and blocked a strike. Pyrrha was still fighting, her eyes wide with fear, swinging at phantoms. Again, not Ciel's problem.

She flicked out her utility knife and scalped Penny. There was a hatch on the robot's skull, just like the manual said. She reached for it, but fumbled. Her hands shook. And she muttered to herself, "Don't panic."

On _Eidolon's_ bridge, the crew stared intently at two screens. One, the actual, showed Penny's innards out on display. The other, civilian, ran at a thirty-second delay. Penny and Pyrrha fell into a blade lock. They were ten seconds out from the incident. Fleet Commander Gray stood at the helm muttering, "Snowblind, snowblind, _snowblindsnowblind-_ Merlot!"

He turned to Communications. Fola Merlot was already typing. She hit enter, just as Pyrrha reached out her hand to destroy Penny. And the screens flicked to color bars.

Gray sighed.

Fola donned her headset and announced, "I'm calling stadium control to see what's going on."

Gray nodded and turned to tracking. "Katt. What are the Grimm doing?"

Ramadi Katt pointed to his screen. "Sir, I just lost our connection to CCT. Fola?"

Fola gripped her headset. She kept pushing a button on her console. "I can't raise anyone. I'm just getting… Is Snowblind blocking _us_?"

The color bars gave way to Vale News Network, a pre-recorded message for emergencies at the stadium. The news anchor, Lisa Lavender, smiled and lied.

"Are we…? Oh my, it looks like we're having technical difficulties. There must have been some kind of accident with the cameras. And right in the middle of such an exciting event!"

Gray said to Fola, "Troubleshoot that," then to Ramadi, "Focus, Katt. What are the Grimm doing?"

"Swarm Malice and Leviathan just halted. It's too early to tell if they're orienting. Over here-"

He pointed, but the screen flicked blank. "I… Uh. Systems?"

He turned to another station. The ensign shouted back, "Fire in the array. Damage team is scrambling."

Gray snapped, "Belay that. Send security. DefCon Two."

Klaxons blared and repeated his order across the fleet.

He turned back to Katt. "Show me last known. Who else has sight on those swarms?"

Katt flicked switches. "They were… Oh."

He displayed the ground DO-RO stations, dotted circles representing their vision. Every swarm had broken predictions to wander. And every swarm had wandered out of sight.

"Now that, uh… Now that _Eidolon_ is blind, Sir… No one has sight of them. They're all free to skip."

Gray asked, "And What's the closest they can skip to?"

Katt pointed to a lightning storm twenty klicks north of Vale. "Aside from Mountain Glenn? We don't have detection under that storm. If I was a betting pessimist…"

Gray interrupted, "And how many Grimm are we expecting? What's the threat level?"

Katt hesitated. He gestured at his station. "Every Grimm on the continent, Sir. We're at Threat Level Nine."

A large, black cube thrummed in downtown. Junior's, Mecca for all nightlife in Vale. The rooftop had been roped off for VIPs. Junior grabbed the DJ's microphone and announced, "Drinks are on the house." The patrons cheered. Quietly, he added, "Last call."

On the rooftop, the lone VIP stood and stared at the flying colosseum. Her scroll vibrated.

Emerald: "I'm clear."

Another tremor.

Mercury sent a video of himself sitting in the stands, eating popcorn. People around him screamed and pointed at the stage. He laughed and gave the camera a thumbs up.

Cinder sighed.

Another message.

A picture of Roman and Neo, captioned, "How do we look?"

She said, "Dressed to kill," and the response blipped across the CCT network.

She flicked to Raven and sent, "Look alive."

She got a selfie back. Raven perched outside a window at Beacon. Inside, her daughter sat alone and stared morosely at the floor.

Cinder waited. She needed one more signal.

There had been many long moments to think on her journey. Walking through the fields alone, then with Emerald, then with Mercury. This would be her last. And by sunrise tomorrow, she would be a different person. All of the pain that had kept her moving would be solved. She would perish with the world she was destroying. She would join her sisters by the river, and they would cross into a place of absolution, to become creatures of relaxation and bliss. Elysium, to be as it claimed, meant not caring about the world.

She wondered if she could stop caring. Then, considering the burdens of living, she wondered if she could _keep_ caring. She had felt tired at eighty. The longer she'd gone on, the more distant everything seemed. Everything felt forced. Everything felt forced upon her. When she felt it was all too much, that she should lay down and age and die, there was only one tether to reach for. And it hurt.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked. The Black Queen, just as timeless and serene as that starless forest night. She held the crown of Ash and Ember on a pillow. She offered it to Cinder.

"Wear it," she said, "and become me."

Cinder hesitated. "What does that mean?"

"You come one step closer to annihilation. And I vanish, finally freed from this… Existence. This façade that masks oblivion."

She extended the pillow, to just before Cinder. "It's very light," Salem explained.

"Not tonight," Cinder forced.

"And not ever," she hoped.

"Then let me offer you another gift." Salem donned her crown, then produced from her robes a Grimm bone.

Cinder accepted the gift, and read from its spirals. "I am the willful Solipse. With my many hands, I will shield your senses. With my voice I will drown out your screaming world."

She looked up to Salem, and asked, "You made this?"

"Solipse pulled it from her shoulder, and asked me to show it to you."

"And did you make this particular monster?"

"No, Cinder. You did. Three-thousand years ago, on that night in the forest when we first met. She's been with you ever since."

Cinder tilted her head. "And no one has ever noticed?" The bone turned to smoke in Cinder's hands.

Salem explained, "No one wants to see a monster." She rested a weightless hand against Cinder's cheek. "So it finds no difficulty hiding behind a beautiful face. You will see her tonight. She will strike you at your lowest. And you will wish you had worn this crown."

Salem left. She'd never been there. Cinder stood upright, alone, and felt her heart beating like the thrum of the nightclub. She felt compelled to think aloud, as if to a companion who knew everything about her.

"Raven told me, that if she has to die, she wants Winter to kill her. I won't be myself after tonight. In a sense, I will die. And I've just realized, I want Pyrrha to kill me. I shouldn't have sent her away."

Her scroll rumbled. She checked it.

Adam Taurus: "We're here."

To Solipse, she said, "It's time."

She scrolled through her applications, and selected the remote to Snowblind.

Vale News Network had Lisa Lavender lying in a cheery tone.

"Well, Cyril, accidents happen. But a camera hiccup is just a _little_ tragedy."

Cinder tapped her scroll. A fifteen-second clip played across all of Remnant. Pyrrha reached out, and with her semblance, rent Penny. As it repeated, Cinder lifted her scroll to her mouth.

Her soft breathing played on every speaker in the world.

She announced, "This is not a tragedy. This was _not_ an accident."


	59. In Atlas II

In Atlas, a window frosted on a castle. The fractals crept into the corners, rounding them out, and the patterns illustrated the edges as if framing a portrait. Winter sat beside it in her wheelchair, gazing longingly into the arboreal forest on the grounds, through the dark haze of fog and night, across a black ocean, to her sister in Vale.

Behind her, Hikari stood and stared at the woman she loved.

Winter parted her lips, and broke the spell of the moment. " _Woglinde_ 's main cannon spews a plasma that burns at three-thousand degrees kelvin."

Hikari thought back to the cliffs. When she closed her eyes, she could still see Cinder's engravings glowing in the distance, her bow taught and ready. And then the hot fan of light turning night into day.

She nodded. "They won't be growing any grass there for a while."

A dimple appeared on Winter's cheek. The smile spread like fire, consuming her beauty and peeling away her lips until the whole, voracious emotion was revealed.

"She's dead, Hikari?"

Hikari smirked. "Guess we'll have to go looking for the new Fall Maiden."

Winter looked back across the world. She asked, "Have you seen my mother?"

Hikari nodded.

Winter had fallen to a frown. "She sits as I do, stuck in a chair beside a window, watching the road from the embassy, waiting for news she doesn't want. Her legs work fine, Hikari. But she's been stuck there since Apple died."

Hikari knew what Cherry would say to lighten the mood. She wished she could Channel White's comforts, or Orchids good ideas. She wished she could sing for Winter like Roja, or captivate her with Gelb's storytelling, or use one of Rosa's stupid magic tricks, or Blau's infectious laughter.

She was just Hikari. So she said, "But your legs will be okay in a few months."

Winter turned to look at her.

She said, "I'm not okay, Hikari."

Hikari pulled up a chair beside her. She wasn't a therapist. She didn't know what to tell people about combat and loss and death. It was all self-evident. That was why she liked it.

"I uh…"

She held out her hands, as if offering something.

She tried, "I'm here for you."

Winter grabbed her hand and blurted, "I want you to know… The way I feel."

She thought through her words. Hikari held very still. Winter faltered. She was scared, trapped between mortal peril and obscurity. Hikari squeezed her hand back.

She said, "There have to be boundaries, Specialist. That's the only way this is going to work."

Winter nodded. She had to look away, out the window again.

She said, "Hikari. Stay as you are now, and I will stay with you forever."

Her voice shook. Tears poured from her and dripped into her lap. Hikari tried to speak, but Winter snapped, "Your uniform is wrinkled, Agent. Go make yourself presentable."

And she turned away, to hide her face. Hikari stood and straightened.

"I'll uh… Yeah. I'll go."

As she stepped out the door, Winter added, "And… Return at sixteen-hundred. To take me to dinner."

Hikari nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."

Hikari felt like an intruder in the castle hallways. It was hard to walk through this museum and imagine that Winter thought of it as home. She stopped before a portrait, where a huntsman on a horse challenged a colossus. She had little aesthetic sense, but it had that same quality of not belonging. The paints were vivid colors. The grass was an enthusiastic green, and the horse was one of those hairless Vale natives. Everything in this castle was dour. Everything in this painting was comical.

A voice beside her explained.

"Neo-Expressionism," Jacque Schnee frowned.

He was a severe man, pale, with an old lion's mane and silver whaling spears for eyes. Hikari straightened and saluted. "Good evening, Sir."

He ordered, "Relax. This is a home, not a post."

She switched to parade rest. Jacque didn't push it further.

He looked back at the painting and said, "None of my guests have ever passed this crap without comment."

Hikari noted the huntsman depicted in the painting. His mustache was Jacque's, but… "He's a lot fatter than you, Sir."

Jacque chuckled. "He's a friend of mine. Peter Port, a professor at Beacon. We met a century ago, at Mantle Retinue Academy."

"What?"

Hikari snapped a surprised look at him.

Jacque smiled. "Yes, there was a time Huntsmen were part of the Retinue. That divide is much younger than its volatility would suggest."

He gestured at the painting and continued, "When we met, Port was impressed by the family mustache. So he grew out his, which we both found very amusing."

Jacque's smile grew to actual humor.

"Then he became famous- some horrible art trend- and he thought it would be funny to remake the painting in the atrium and send it to me."

Jacque chuckled, and his eyes softened the way Hikari's did when she thought of her dead friends. Risking familiarity, she asked, "What's the painting supposed to look like?"

With a commanding presence, Jacque turned and walked them to the atrium. This vaulted room had hosted treaties and duels across the millennia. Now it stood empty, the staff dismissed and climate control idle to save on costs. Mrs. Schnee sat slumped beside the window, shivering occasionally, black and red bags under her eyes, staring at a dirt road on the far hill. Jacque looked at her and sighed softly, but gestured for Hikari to see the biggest painting ever made. She looked at it. She looked up, and was still looking at it. She looked up again and saw where the colossus' head was depicted.

"Oh."

" _Schneegart!_ " Jacque proclaimed.

"Bless you," she mumbled.

Jacque laughed. Mrs. Schnee looked their way, and it seemed she was trying to enjoy his enthusiasm with him.

"The colossus in this painting," he gestured, "was one of the purgatorial souls enlisted by the gods, bound to this world to serve mankind."

"From Crusade?"

"Yes."

Hikari levelled her brow suspiciously. "Never thought they'd look like that."

"Now there's a protest I've never heard before," Jacque mused. "What else would a purgatorial soul look like, Hikari?"

"I dunno. I just assumed they'd be soldiers."

"Well this one wasn't," he asserted.

Hikari shrugged.

Jacque continued. "When the Snow Queen first settled us upon this icy plateau and named it Mantle, Schneegart found us and stood sentinel against the Grimm. It protected us. But then a time came for humanity to expand, and to reclaim the Remnant. And the colossus became a barrier to us. So Gale Schnee begged the Snow Queen's permission to challenge this guardian of the threshold and claim our place in the world beyond. In defeating Schneegart, he earned our family name, and bound the soul of the colossus to our blood, so that it would join us in our battles forever."

He'd raised his arms to the painting. He lowered them now, with his tone, and sighed, "Or so the story goes."

There was a mirthful glint in his eye. Hikari looked at the colossus again. She imagined Weiss trying to command it, and suppressed her laughter. Mrs. Schnee had turned back to the window, to the distant road.

Hikari nodded her appreciation to Mr. Schnee.

"It's a good story."

"It was," he lamented, "But hearing it echo back to me from across this room, it sounds hollow. Like a has-been's boasting. There was a time my family filled these halls. The villagers would gather in our courtyard seeking hope. And they would find it! Now we can't even pass a defense budget through our own parliament."

Hikari had heard rumors about recent events.

"The Modernists want to close the Regency and merge the Retinue under the Force Specialist Division."

"Giving Atlas control over the last independent faction in Mantle," Jacque snarled.

Hikari hadn't joined for the politics. But curiosity got the best of her.

She asked, "If you don't mind me asking, Sir…"

He didn't object.

Hikari drawled, "You and Ironwood are commonly seen… Interacting. But he's trying to destroy the Regency department and permanently merge the Retinue with the military. And it doesn't seem like you'd like that."

She swallowed. Jacque was not the mirthful man she'd been talking to. He was the severe Mr. Schnee. He said, "I think you will find that _many_ huntsmen do not share Ironwood's vision of a state denuded of Winter's Crown."

Hikari cocked an eyebrow. "Winter's Crown or… _Winter's_ crown?"

Jacque smiled. "Yes."

That admission was conspiratorial and malevolent and everything the greater world despised about Schnees. If she'd been anyone else, Hikari would have hated it. But she imagined Winter with a crown. And she smiled and nodded back.

Mrs. Schnee interrupted them. "Jacque. Reconnect us to the CCT. I don't care if it's the holiday. If Weiss can't be here, then I want to speak to her at least some way."

Jacque made a sound between a growl and a sigh. He asked, " _Now?_ "

"Yes. Now. I've just had a terrible feeling."

Over her shoulder, through the window, Hikari spotted a light. Two headlamps from an embassy car were trailing down the road.


	60. She's a Robot

"Weiss! We need to get down there!"

Blake gripped her shoulders and shook her, then pointed at the stage.

Weiss couldn't react. She watched the oil flow from Penny's torso. Blake pointed again, harder, crossing her vision and indicating an insane Pyrrha attacking Ruby.

"Weiss! Glyph!"

Ruby was fighting. And that meant the team was fighting. Weiss glyphed the floor, her semblance forming hard light and catapulting them into the melee. In the air, she met Blake's eyes, and said, "We're fighting Pyrrha?! Without our weapons?"

Blake looked just as shocked.

She had time to say, "Life comes at you f-" and they landed.

Pyrrha tossed her shield like a discus, and with gestures, guided its course as if it were on strings. Her spear danced without her hand. And she was fighting for her life. She didn't seem to recognize anyone.

Blake shouted, "Contrast!"

Weiss remembered the play. She glyphed the ground beneath them. She couldn't summon yet, but when she focused on that place where the family stored souls, something cold always reached back. Condensation twisted into icicles across the floor.

Blake summoned shadows of herself and danced with them, leaping and dervishing like a shell-game. Then she lunged. Pyrrha couldn't dodge them all. She'd long ago lost track of what was real. Blake colliding with her ended all illusions.

Pyrrha hit the ground, and her circlet made a heavy thud when it struck. Weiss saw her eyes lose focus. The flying weapons dropped and scattered on the ground.

Blake shouted, "Pyrrha! We're your friends!"

And Pyrrha asked, "Blake?"

She looked at Weiss. She looked at Ruby, at Penny's sword gripped in her fist. She looked at Penny.

Ciel Soleil pulled a cube from the android's skull and shouted, "I need to get to _Eidolon_! Guard! Make me a path!"

Ruby grabbed Weiss' wrist and shouted, "Weiss! Emerald and Mercury are here! I think they did this!"

"Ruby, what?"

"come on, Weiss, we gotta!"

Everything was moving too fast. Weiss seized Ruby's shoulders, holding her still. Ruby's tears were spilling down her face with blood. Her lips kept running. "Weiss, Yang was telling the truth! They made her hit Mercury and now they made Pyrrha kill Penny! We have to go stop them!"

"Ruby, _you_ need to stop!" Weiss held her tighter, aura assisted. Ruby stared her down, to show her she was calm and in control. "Weiss, we have to go _now_."

"Why are you bleeding?"

"Mercury shot me."

"But you have an au-"

She followed the blood to the wound, where a dust residue glimmered on Ruby's skin. She'd been grazed by aura-piercing flachettes.

"Mercury shot at me," Ruby hissed. "He's part of this, and so is Emerald, and so is-"

The light changed. Every screen in the stadium had flicked to a replay. And a voice smooth as venom poured into their ears.

"This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident."

Weiss and Blake recognized her voice. In unison they said, "Cinder?"

Ruby shook free of Weiss and pointed to the landing pads. "Come on! We've gotta get there before they do!"

Security was no match for their speed and coordination. They cleared the stadium, the stands, and the hallways in seconds. Open air hit their lungs on the landing pads, where the pursuit ended. Mercury stood in the tail end of a transport and waved as the tail rose and the craft flew away.

Ruby shouted, "I can make that jump!"

Blake shouted, "Wait!"

"Don't be stupid!" Weiss snapped.

"If he'd hit you before, you'd be dead," Blake noted.

Ruby growled. Her fists clenched and her neck strained.

Blake shouted, "We can't fight them without our weapons, Ruby! We've got the serial number on their transport. They can't escape the military."

Weiss peered at it. "You can read that?"

No one answered her. She looked back to Ruby, to see her eyes clenched shut and crying. Ruby was in pain, and growling, "But they killed her."

"She's a robot," Weiss said.

"She's my friend!" Ruby shrieked.

"No, Ruby. I mean, she's a robot. They can put her back together."

Ruby opened her eyes and looked to her for hope. "What? You mean… She'll be okay?"

Weiss didn't know. But she needed Ruby to slow down and make better decisions. So she snapped, "Yes, Ruby! That's how robots work! Blake, stop looking at us like that!"

She couldn't shoulder the burden of Ruby's tears. She deflected to Blake's weird expression.

The faunus mumbled, "Why is no one freaking out that Penny's a robot?"

"Oh come on, Blake! Everyone knows that!"

"Yeah," Ruby sniffled.

The windows from the floor above them shattered, and Team CFVY jumped down to their level. Coco looked to Ruby. "We saw you point at Emerald and Mercury. Where'd they go?"

Ruby pointed out at the sky. Coco flinched her nose in annoyance.

Weiss envied her. Coco was older, taller, more authoritative, and was always issuing orders before anyone else had finished thinking.

"Fox, Hashi, find us a pilot. Velvet, keep watching for a signal. Ruby, you're bleeding."

"Mercury shot me!" She squared her shoulders at the other team leader, and stood taller. Weiss, for a brief instant, allowed herself to like Ruby's leadership. Little Red puffed out her chest and said, "Blake got the serial number off of their airship. We just need to call the authorities."

Coco nodded sideways. "Yeah. Slight problem." She gestured over her shoulder, where Velvet sighed, "Still no signal."

Coco confirmed, "Cinder's hijacked the CCT. We can't even call for our lockers."

"What's Cinder even talking about?" Blake asked.

They listened.

Cinder's voice had dropped and distorted, crackling through static, "You were warned not to indulge the men of the age of Dust. Yet you idled behind their walls and sold your destiny for comfort. Your time has come. A black sun, burning in the night. A great culling. The Fall."

"What the hell is she smoking?" Coco sneered.

Blake mused, "The Black Sun. It's a prophecy from Crusade. The Black Sun burns in the night. Darkness covers the Decadent City and destroys it. It ends the Age of Huntsmen and starts the age of Crusaders."

"She thinks the Grimm are going to attack?"

Blake shrugged, "They might if that broadcast went out."

Weiss scoffed, "There's no way the military let that past Snowblind."

Velvet stepped into the conversation and showed them the stream. Pyrrha waving her hand and tearing Penny apart. "It did."

"Uh oh," Blake mumbled.

Coco ordered, "We need weapons. Either we take a transport to Beacon, or we get our lockers online. Girls? Ideas?"

Weiss flicked out her scroll and pawed through some self-made applications.

"I can use the Radio Relay Network. The CCT was meant to replace it, but the school still has a station. I can connect to the lockers."

Coco looked at her as if she's pulled off a mask and revealed her true identity. She smiled. "Look at you."

Weiss flicked her hair and admitted, "I'm industrious."

"Okay. Do it," Coco nodded. She turned to see a group of soldiers approaching them.

Weiss recognized their uniforms. "Oh, those are the Embassy Retinue. They have to make sure I'm alive." She waved at them and shouted, "Hi. I'm fine."

Blake tensed beside her. The soldiers kept approaching, but didn't answer.

Weiss waved again. "I'm alive. You don't need to waste your time."

They reached her, and one said into a radio, "Landing pads are clear for you, Ciel. And TacCom, we found Weiss. Tell your pilot to bring it in to pad seven."

Another put a hand on Weiss.

She slapped it away. "Hey! What are you doing?"

"We've been ordered to take you back to Atlas, Ma'am."

"Why?"

The soldier scoffed, "Well, Princess, We're taking you somewhere safe."

The students were stunned. Coco snapped back, "She's not a princess. She's a huntress."

Ruby stepped in. "Yeah. She's one of us! And that means she stays with us! I mean, if she wants to. Do you want to?"

Weiss answered, "Of course!" But no one heard her. An aircraft swooped low and drowned her out with its engines. The tail came around and dropped, revealing another eight Retinue soldiers. They levelled their rifles at the group. The soldier nearest Weiss put a heavy hand on her shoulder. And it was suddenly very clear that what she wanted didn't matter.

In a brief flash of inspiration, she stuttered, "O-oh. Uh, thanks for loaning me your phone, Ruby."

And she handed over the key to their weapons.


	61. Axios

Ciel Soleil sprinted out to the landing pads and into a waiting transport. She nodded to another Agent, head of Colosseum Quick Reaction. She glanced at Weiss Schnee. Over a decade ago, Ciel had sat with Apple Schnee on the last ride out of Mountain Glenn. This crisis suddenly felt like that one. She looked out the tail and saw their last passenger. General Ironwood climbed aboard, and everyone saluted.

He asked the Agent, "Who else are we waiting for?"

"Just you, Sir."

He turned and looked out at the students assembled there. Blake, Ruby, and Team CFVY were watching their teammate leave. The tail rose without a goodbye. The aircraft lifted, and Ciel looked into her hands. She held a metal cube. In some sense, this was a CPU. But it wasn't like any she'd seen before. She felt the warmth of a soul, the tingly hum of an aura, heating the metal. This was a phylactery for her sister.

Ironwood pushed to the front of the transport and raised _Eidolon_ on the communications. He was far enough, and the engines were loud enough, that the soldiers felt comfortable conspiring. The Agent nudged Ciel and asked, "You know what to do?"

"Excuse me?"

"Penny told you what to do, right?"

She had. Penny wanted Ciel to stick her CPU and RAM into Crusader. Ciel checked her pocket. Good, she hadn't forgotten the RAM. She blew relief out her cheeks. She nodded to the other Agent. She didn't recognize this woman. Her helmet covered everything but her mouth. Her chest plate wasn't bearing a nametag. Ciel looked forward to see her unit badge. That wasn't on either. So if she wasn't CQR…

Ciel asked, "Who are you?"

The agent smiled and answered, "A fellow Crusader."

"A what?" Ciel understood as soon as she'd asked. Her father's cult had outlived him. The Crusader pulled a patch from her breastplate and waved it to the others. Twelve soldiers changed their colors, adding to their sleeves the logo of a Black Sun. Ciel sat as still as she could. She looked across the craft at Weiss, who, by her wide-eyed expression, also understood what this meant.

Ciel was accomplice to something bigger than her plan to save Penny. And Weiss was definitely a hostage. The craft slowed. Ciel saw out the front as they aligned with the carrier's deck. They had maybe twenty seconds to get wild.

She looked at Weiss.

Weiss mouthed, "Do something."

Everyone saw. They all looked to Ciel for the reaction. She swallowed. She gripped Penny tighter. She shook her head. And she regretted it instantly. Part of that regret was ethical. But also, the moment Weiss realized she was alone, she got that crazy look Midori had before she threw all the rations down the ravine.

To no one, Weiss mouthed, "What would Ruby do?"

Ciel shook her head harder. Weiss had her answer. She looked out the front window and flexed her aura. Ciel followed the look. Ironwood was there. And whatever was happening, he saw it first. He straightened in alarm. He turned to look at Weiss. And over his shoulder, Ciel saw the Schnee family glyph suspended in the air, right in front of them.

And it was made of something hard. The airship's frame crumpled when they hit. The port-side wing splintered away, and the craft tore in half with it. Ciel's seat split beneath her. In one hand she gripped her shredded seatbelt. In the other, Penny. If she swung the wrong way, they'd both be seared by the starboard tilt jet. The tail half of the retinue were still strapped in. She saw them beating Weiss with aura sappers and forcing her into a seat.

ciel felt a hand grabbing at her wrist. The Agent Crusader was shouting.

"Ciel! Ciel, give me Penny!"

"Negative! Pull me up!"

"Give me the cube!"

The craft turned overhand, down the carrier's side, and gently crashed into the cargo deck. Ciel still dangled by a seatbelt, but she wasn't spinning or burning. She shouted, "I need assistance!"

She heard boots running to her. Someone with a flight helmet flattened out and grabbed her wrist. Ciel got her elbows on deck, and she was face-to-face with Midori.

Midori said, "Hey! Small world."

Ciel pulled herself up and into the furnace. A white foam burst from the vents, filling the hangar to smother the fire. Crusader's cockpit sat open half-way along the hanger. Ciel ditched Midori and sprinted for it. She heard gunshots behind her and knew the coup was in full swing. The Retinue's Merlot lasers had a higher pitched whine than the fleet's Schnee gear.

She ran up a ladder and peeked into the cockpit. Dead center in the console was a slot for a cube, just as Penny had described.

Midori shouted from the ground, "Ciel! Take cover!"

Ciel clicked the cube into place.

Laser bolts ricocheted from the armor and bounced around in the cockpit.

Midori's shouting was frantic. "Ciel! Goddamnit! What's going on?"

Midori turned away and covered her with revolver fire. Ciel pulled the RAM rod from her pocket. It fit in a hole beside the CPU. Another burst of gunfire. Three hits climbed up her leg. The last pierced her lung. She'd seen that wound on a Faunus before. He fought for another thirty seconds, then flopped around on the ground.

Ciel pulled herself into the seat and pulled Crusader closed. There was darkness. She mustered her air to say, "Crusader. Engines on."

Crusader dim-lit, the way a great beast might peek its eye open but not fully awaken. The AI prompted her in a dull and guttural voice. "Who would pay Copper for my Virtue?"

Penny hadn't mentioned a Riddle. The quote was from Crusade, from the key story, The Crusader. But Penny had only said to input credentials. Ciel spit the blood from her mouth and answered, "Ciel Soleil. Verification: Two Four Null One. Penitent Tangent."

More blood pooled in her mouth.

The AI riddled again: "Is your Virtue worth Copper?"

Everything was dark, and she was tired, but she knew the answer.

Her last breath was, " _Axios._ "

She slept forever. Her sister woke. In an instant, Penny was born into a world richer in information than any mortal had ever seen. She was greeted at the gate to the CCT.

Where all other traffic was stopped, Snowblind let her through.

A minor earthquake in Vacuo, tidal watches in Mistral, Weather, DO-RO, the personal communications of every person, the battery life on every connected device- these all became her peripheral senses. The advanced laser array on Crusader was her eyes. With her brain power spread across the whole of the dustronic world, she calculated the trajectory of every bullet in the room. Her guns spun up and rattled at the fleet's soldiers like a snake. Every shot hit. They fell dead. Her expended cartridges landed in a neat pyramid by design. She was a Goddess, risen from the machine. Her eyes scanned over the remaining humans. She pointed at an Agent of the retinue.

"You." Her voice growled the way gears grind, deeper than masculine. "Where is Ciel?"

The Agent didn't answer, too awed by her presence. The soldier nearest her, Midori, scrambled away.

Penny pointed again, at Weiss Schnee, and demanded, "WHERE IS CIEL?!"

She felt the vital signs from the cockpit.

She felt nothing.


	62. Iratus Rex

When Jacque Schnee came of age, a horse-drawn carriage took him from Schnee castle to Mantle Retinue Academy. Remnant was a strange and beautiful world, waiting to be conquered. He met strange and beautiful people: his friend Peter Port, his enemy Noir Soleil, his frenemy James Ironwood. He was living a life as normal and serious as any young man could.

But he never graduated. His father died, leaving a void that only Jacque could fill- only, Jacque couldn't fill it. He'd wanted this moment, to ascend to the highest heights of responsibility. But he'd imagined his father abdicating the crown and advising him. He'd imagined doing it after starting his own life. Not as a desperate son sifting through fragments of his father's plans.

There were no plans, only fragments. The old man had lost his mind before his body. Jacque was alone.

Then The War hit, and Jacque was the only man who could keep his nation's industry afloat. Sitting in his office and viewing the world through reports, he felt as if he were atop Peak Thirty-Three again. Only now, Peter Port wasn't by his side with a joke. He had this new fellow, a Vale Sergeant bothering him at every turn.

Jacque was atop another mountain, higher and less travelled than Blue Balls, and always growing so that the men who had peaked it before, returning, wondered what had changed since their time. Jacque was atop Civilization. He was at the bleeding edge, and he was the one bleeding.

After the war, he built the first of Atlas' power plants. He warmed the hearth of every home but his own.

A year of reflection later, he put his pistol against his temple. Something drastic needed to change. The magic was missing from the world he'd grown up in. Magic. There was an idea. So he put down the pistol and took a trip Vacuo. He found an old friend manning an outback station. Flat desert stretched from horizon to horizon. Inside, a single fan blew hot air against Sergeant Marron Arc's face.

They talked about the dark days in The War. They caught up on who'd died and who'd lived happily. When Marron asked what prompted the visit, Jacque took a long time to admit it. He stared out the window frame- there was no window- at the desert's one feature, the stump of an oak tree.

He said, "I want to find the heir to the Winter Maiden. I'm going to marry her."

Marron laughed. Still laughing, he pulled up the room's carpet to reveal a hidden ice box. Still laughing, he said, "That's a good one. That's worth a free beer."

Jacque sat and accepted it, both the laughter and the beer.

He pressed, "The sword your grandfather gave you, during The War."

Marron nodded, "Yeah. _Crocea Mors_. But hold on, I have to hear more about this plan with the Winter Maiden. Let's pretend she's real. There's a magical set of powers, and some broad's going to inherit them. How do you plan to find her?"

"The same way your grandfather found the sword that slays gods."

Jacque forced himself to sound as serious as possible. He saw that his friend understood, despite the wry smile.

Marron mumbled, "It's just a sword, Jacque." But he sighed, shook his head, and finally scribbled contact information on a strip of cloth, explaining, " Dad found that sword in a tomb that had sunk below the swamps of Mistral. He started that adventure by talking to this is crazy old Lion faunus who tells fortunes. She likes Springvine pie." Marron handed the cloth over.

Jacque nodded his thanks. He stood to leave, but looked out at the desert and gestured to it.

"Marron," he asked, "back in the war you kept talking about that forest you wanted to retire to."

Marron gestured at the lone stump of an Oak, and lamented, "The War took it."

Jacque had a hellish quest. It changed him. He made mortal enemies with the Faunus. He lost friends from the Retinue. Those pains faded from his memory. What really stuck was the ending, when he walked into a shack in the village below his own castle.

She was kneeling at a low table, serving coffee to her elderly parents. He recognized her instantly. He held out the rubbing he'd taken, from an engraving in an ancient ice cave. The elderly parents turned rigid with alarm.

She sat up straight, eyes wide, and asked, "How did you find me?"

He was too frustrated to beat around the bush. "I invented cameras, had the parliament mandate their presence in the public square, then gathered and analyzed ever frame of every photograph until you went to the hospital yesterday."

The elderly parents turned to look at a pill bottle on the table.

One of them realized, "You're Jacque Schnee."

"Yes."

"Did Ozpin send you?"

"No. But I can protect you from him."

So he had a wife, Nival Schnee. They had two daughters. The golden years set in. He had a new mission: a vision for the future of Remnant, of the world as a giant nerve. And so the Cross Continental Transmission System was designed.

He'd forgotten about the politicians. By the time legislators had zipped up their pants again, his project was a nightmare designed to break every time a tower had an error. Every hour of uptime was a miracle.

The Golden Age had ended. Luxury became Decadence became Entropy, until the great projects were now impossible to propose without scorn. Then Chernobyl detonated, and with it, a tenth of the family wealth and the bulk of Mantle's Dust reserves. The Retinue followed that failure with the destruction of a nearby forest metropolis. Another desert conjured by war. The Faunus retaliated against Jacque, who served as the personification of the Military-Dustrial complex. A whole dozen of his cousins and in-laws were murdered.

Then Mountain Glenn fell. In a single day, a whole fifth of humanity was annihilated. And with them, Apple Schnee and Marron Arc. Then Winter threw her tantrum and left for the military. Then Weiss did the same and walked straight to Ozpin.

He had at least one daughter back now, in a wheelchair. Winter had been a powerful and driven huntress when she left. She looked now like a corpse, propped up by her faithful retinue attendant and wheeled around the house to stare at things.

This New Dark Age would not end until he saw her on her throne. In his loneliest nights, he heard Salem whispering, "This New Dark Age will never end."

Seeing Nival crying by the window, he allowed himself to finally believe it. A car from the embassy meandered its way across the far hill. Beside him, Agent Hikari asked, "Sir? What's going on?"

He put a hand on her shoulder, to steady himself. He said, "Bring Winter to the entryway. They're here to tell us that Weiss is Dead."

He released her, and Hikari power-walked out of the atrium.

He sat with his wife and hugged her. He could guess the details. Ozpin had surely found some way to distance himself from the blood, probably by inciting Shadowcat to do the deed.

He found his center again, wrapped around Nival and guarding her against the world. He returned to a calm. Renewing his vow, he whispered, "Winter will sit upon the throne in Mantle. She will wear the Snow Queen's Mantle. And every Agent of the Retinue will kneel before her."

Nival wiped her tears away, and between pains quipped, "She already has one adoring her."

"Yes. The first of many," Jacque smiled.

He kissed her forehead, and allowed her another few minutes to compose herself. They had guests to greet.

They admitted two Captains from the embassy. The ritual was familiar to the Schnees.

"Would it be alright if we sat?"

They moved to the parlor. It felt like yesterday that they'd sat here and learned of Apple's death. The window in this room was a stained glass portrait of the family in its prime. Jacque, Nival, Winter, Weiss.

The ritual resumed.

"We regret to inform you…"

"… Missing in action during a Grimm attack."

"We will be here to comfort you as details come in. Until then, if there is anything you need-"

The door opened. The two Captains looked up from the table to see Hikari Oni pushing Winter Schnee's wheelchair. Hikari saw them and stopped.

Winter hummed, "Push me to the table."

Hikari pointed at the Captains, "These two fucks aren't from the embassy. They're agents of the Black Suns."

One of the Captains blew a low and steady sigh.

The other said, "We weren't expecting you here, Hikari."

And then the three of them drew their revolvers. Hikari shot first, killing both. She took a grazing shot to the shoulder, turned and pushed Winter out of the room. Jacque had enough wits to stand and reach for Nival.

The window shattered. The image of his family scattered, each shard dissipating into glass dust. A bullet passed through Nival's head and scattered her likewise.

He tried to carry her to safety. He couldn't see through his tears. He couldn't speak through his screaming. His sorrow was endless.

But sorrow is a weak emotion. It transmuted to rage. He struggled to breathe. It felt as if his rage was burning the oxygen from his lungs. Wrath was his greatest sin.

He stopped in the library. Hikari was scrambling up a display case for weapons. Winter gaped, shocked, at her mother's corpse.

Jacque growled. He couldn't speak, but his words would have been a curse on every peasent he'd lifted from poverty, on the whole goddamned experiment of civilization and everyone who was not beside him in this moment.

He tore a glove from his hand, to reveal the scars from a thousand cuts. With his teeth, he made one more, and summoned to his aid the great _Schneegart_.

When it stepped into the world, Remnant trembled.


	63. Rules of Power

Hikari stopped in what looked like a library. She didn't know the house. She'd picked a direction and pushed Winter away from danger. They had cover and three exits. Jacque was close behind, carrying Nival's body.

Training had told Hikari to avoid windows; Her mind had only just caught up.

If she was raiding the Schnee castle, she'd have killed the whole family in that room with sniper fire. So why were they alive? Because the attackers weren't finished setting up. With enough manpower for a coup, she'd put a team of twelve through the front door, and another through the garage, to clean up if things went sideways.

So there were at least three snipers on the hill to the west, twelve men at the front, another twelve in the garage, and reserves waiting in the forest on the other side of the castle.

Conclusion: "Winter, we've gotta get real dynamic real quick-like."

Door charges echoed from the foyer.

Winter stared at her mother. Her grip on the wheelchair bent the metal. Jacque tore away his glove and bit his hand.

Hikari shook her specialist. "Winter! We need weapons!"

Winter looked at the wall, where the Schnee coat of arms hung. Demoted beside it were the arms of families they'd married out of existence. Hikari took up the Thalaj saber and tossed it to Winter. For herself, she grabbed a katana from house Merlot and damn near dropped it. This was a huntsman's weapon. She could manage. She looked to Jacque for his choice.

He'd drawn the family sigil into the carpet with his blood. It glowed. Remnant shook. A low growl spread across the sky like rolling thunder. Hikari didn't question it. She didn't have time.

She steadied herself and said, "We need to get to Winter's room and recover the Maidens' artifacts. Resistance should be lightest in the forest. So that's where we're escaping."

In unison, the family voted, "No."

Winter burned aura to stand form her chair. She said, "Fetch the artifacts and meet us in the garage. We live or die in this castle."

Hikari took a breath, then nodded.

"Alright. Alright, I'll see you in the garage."

She looked at the doors, lost. Jacque pointed the right way. Hikari ran. The echoes of huntsmans' work chased her. She reached a hallway, where glass windows displayed the forest. She stepped over a dead maid, turned, and sprinted to the nearest staircase. Her opposition had the same idea. She was behind them, and joined formation as they took the stairs up, quick and tactical.

The point man had White's invention in hand, clicking like a Geiger counter. It lead the team to Winter's room. There, Hikari acted. She raised her Katana and decapitated the woman in front of her. The body thumping to the ground drew two glances. By then, she had a rifle. Laser fire ricocheted around the hallway, making the darkness jump and twist to dodge it.

Hikari felt good about her contribution. She felled at least three before the surprise was gone. Silhouettes snapped her way, and she felt impacts across her uniform, plasma searing the fabric. She hoped her finger would stay down, so Winter would find her with an empty mag.

Her feet cross-stepped as she skipped over a body, repositioning to kill someone firing from the room. The whole team was firing freeze crystals. Her breath frosted as the air temperature dropped. She felt the tremors coming closer, and the whole of the castle jumped. Suits of armor fell to their knees. She tripped with them, landing inside the door and still shooting.

The rifle's battery died and ejected with a soft click. And no one else was standing. Hikari touched her stomach, felt skin where her uniform had burned away. But she was fine.

Then she noticed, at her feet, where a grenade had rolled to a stop without its spoon. How many seconds had she sat and examined her wounds? Two? Three? There was nowhere else to go. She stared at it- didn't think of any good last thoughts. It didn't matter. She was staring at a dud. She laughed.

The castle shook. She managed to stand, pick up Winter's satchel-full-of-magic, and get to the garage. She burst through the door, saw all the cars, and followed the sounds of motion.

White and Cherry were atop a Warthog, tossing cargo containers out to make room for VIPs.

Hikari closed her eyes and breathed. She punched her helmet, but hit her head. She wasn't in kit. She was in a uniform.

She was hyperventilating. But she shook her head and returned to the present. Jacque Schnee was placing Winter in the passenger's side of an S23 Boreal Blazer. Hikari tossed the satchel into the back seat and climbed in. Jacque brought them onto the road in smooth luxury. And as they cleared the castle, all the shaking of Remnant made sense.

Hikari gaped at _Schneegart,_ the colossal suit of armor. The clouds obscured it above the waist. Its feet stomped on whatever soldiers were on the hill. Jacque rolled down the window, reached his hand out, and made a curt motion for the colossus to follow him.

Winter grabbed Hikari's shoulder and shook her. "Hikari. You're bleeding. Are you alright?"

Hikari looked down at herself. "Yeah. That's not my blood."

She looked up at Winter, at her hands, and asked, "You?"

"Not my blood either."

They both looked at Jacque. The blood on him was splattered, sharp streaks from impacts. He drove with one hand. With the other, he gripped a dull blue-green cube that he'd been beating people with. Hikari recognized the material: a one tonne block of Paladin armor. They didn't ask.

Hikari, instead, asked, "Where are we going?"

Jacque kept his eyes on the road. He was going as fast as he could. But his voice was level.

"My tower. There is a facility in the basement that can slingshot us to Vale."

"Uh… It seems there's a coup on, Sir. Maybe we should avoid Atlas CCT?"

Winter answered, "The first rule of power, Hikari…"

She looked to her father, who smiled at his daughter and answered, "Destroy your enemies completely."

Hikari dipped her head to Winter. "As you wish."

She was going to enjoy her first Schnee family outing. She checked her rifle for readiness. She had a thought.

"Specialist. With your permission, I'd like to use the artifacts."

Winter turned in her seat, bewildered. "How?"

Hikari pulled Summer's cape from the satchel and put it on.

"Good idea," Winter nodded.

Hikari had another thought "Hey, they wouldn't have pulled this stunt unless they could get Weiss, too."

"Hence our trip to the slingshot," Jacque explained.

Atlas was an hour drive, but they made it in twenty and didn't bother with traffic. _Schneegart_ roughly scooted aside all obstacles, then planted its fist through the plaza and with its other arm, lowered the car into the basement lobby.

Hikari stepped out, her boot landing on the marble floor, and wondered if she was still hallucinating. She was a floor below Atlas CCT. Looking up the spire made her dizzy. Looking down, she saw a great insignia spanning the floor: a black circle with tendrils waving out across a star chart- A black sun, burning in the night. Someone had redecorated.

Winter grabbed her shoulder. "Hikari? You're pale."

"Just gotta catch my breath, Specialist."

Winter pointed. "How do we get through those doors?"

Hikari looked. The next set of doors was an adamantium safe. They wouldn't be breaking in.

There was a greeting desk, where a soldier in dress blacks had frozen to stare at them. He wore the Black Suns armband.

Hikari pointed. "You're Orchid's kid."

He nodded. "Yes, Agent Hikari."

"He said he's proud of you." She raised her rifle and painted the wall behind him, then reached over the desk and buzzed the door open.

The hallways were empty. They mostly found engineers and technicians. The occasional soldier posed no threat. Hikari felt nothing when she pulled the trigger. She wondered if this was going to catch up to her. Furburg sure hadn't.

Jacque noted, "They started a coup with very little strength."

Hikari hummed, "If I hadn't recognized them, it would have worked."

They reached an intersection. Here was another vaulted room, with three clocks and three hallways branching to the other great cities.

They followed a green line on the floor to "Vale Express."

It opened to a situation room with stadium seating for large holo-screens. A map of Vale bore a red blob of Grim from coast to coast. They stopped to stare at it.

Winter fell to the ground. Her aura had finally drained. She caught herself with a grunt, and propped herself up with her arms. Jacque knelt to help her.

And Hikari realized, "Someone has to stay with Winter."

She saw Jacque stop to think, staring intently at the floor as if it had disobeyed him and would be punished. To Hikari, he concluded: "You can maneuver with the military better."

Winter interjected, "I'm fine! Just get me into a paladin!"

Hikari disagreed, "Weiss probably doesn't have time. Someone has to go now."

Winter shouted at her, "Then Go! I'll be behind you!"

Hikari nodded. She looked to the room's end, where a line of pods waited to slingshot her. She flipped one open and climbed in. Lowering herself, she saw an engraving, on the rim where she held her weight. A quote from crusade: "They looked skyward and prayed for angels to avenge them."


	64. We're Going to Beacon

At Beacon, a rocket locker sat idle in a dark room. Light reflected from the shattered moon and draped across it like a veil. The locker turned on. Holo-screens blinked awake, and a customized message tickered across the keypad: "Good morning, Ruby! Today is going to be great! Do your best!"

The screens flicked red and displayed, "STAND BACK!"

It launched, booster igniting below it and lifting. Ailerons popped out as it cleared the building, and the locker arced to the flying stadium, high over the Atlessian fleet, the city lights, and the fields of darkness swarming around them. Ruby's locker landed atop a pile of others, on the stadium helipad, and popped open. The whole audience was trying to escape now. Beacon's students had managed to commandeer a transport and push randos away. Ruby pushed through that crowd, climbed the pile of lockers, reached hers at the top, and pulled Crescent Rose from its supports. She lifted the sniper-scythe above her, triumphant, and was combat ready.

Coco shouted to her, "Everyone's armed! Ruby! Get on!"

Ruby pushed back through the crowd and stepped onto the transport. The tail closed behind her. Coco pushed to the front and ordered "Ruby, Blake, bring Weiss' scroll up here."

Ruby checked her shoulders. Blake was beside her. The transport lifted. Following Coco, they recognized their friends. Some were foreign, most were local, all were scared. None could get a signal.

As they pushed, Blake wondered, "So if the Grimm do attack, how long till they get here? A couple of days?"

To the transport's starboard side, the night sky illuminated. Out in the fields, an unimaginable bomb had detonated. The brightness stretched over an area the size of the city.

Blake mumbled, "Oh."

The crowd pressed to the windows. Pyrrha Nikkos asked, "Do they really need a bomb that big? How many can there be?"

Ruby tapped Blake and motioned her forward. They reached Coco's huddle, where she'd gathered Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester. Another team leader stood with them, and introduced, "Nebula Violette. Indigo. Shade Academy."

Coco introduced Ruby as, "Rose. RWBY. Beacon. We have a scroll that can make calls. Idea time. Who should we call?"

Ruby blurted, "My uncle Qrow! He'll know what to do."

Coco looked to Cardin, who shrugged.

Jaune tried, "Headmaster Ozpin?"

"Professor Goodwitch," Coco decided.

Ruby flipped out Weiss' scroll and excitedly agreed, "Yeah, she always answers."

She dialed. It rang twice.

Glynda Goodwitch answered, flustered, "Why am I always the first person you call, Mrs. Schnee? And more importantly, how are you calling me?"

Ruby mumbled, "Wow. Rude."

Coco took the scroll and put Glynda on speaker.

"Professor. It's Coco. What's going on?"

"How many students are with you?"

Ruby tried to count. "Uh… One, two-"

Cardin stood tall and looked over the crowd.

He shouted, "Team leads! Sound off!"

"Juniper."

"Coffee."

"Indigo!"

"Silver!"

"Funky!"

"Foxfire!"

He shouted back, "Anyone else?"

Sun Wukong drawled, "Oh. Yeah, we're here."

Ruby noted, "We're here too, but we're missing Weiss."

Blake nudged her.

"Oh, and Yang."

Coco snapped her attention to that.

"Did we leave her behind?"

"No, she's not allowed at the stadium. She's still at the dorms."

Goodwitch heard them. She said, "Children! Focus! Coco, is Pyrrha Nikos nearby? Can she hear me?"

Pyrrha answered for herself, stepping into the circle and grasping Jaune's hand.

"I'm here, professor."

Glynda gathered her resolve with a breath, then ordered, "You know what I need you to do, Pyrrha."

"Tell Headmaster Ozpin that I'll be there."

"We can't force you to do this."

Coco raised an eyebrow. She saw that everyone else was just as lost.

Pyrrha nodded. "I know."

Glynda's voice hardened again. "Coco. Listen closely. Beacon is overrun. I need you to make sure that everyone with you reaches the Safe Zone. I'm trusting you to make this happen."

Coco didn't answer.

Glynda asked, "Coco, did you hear me?"

"Understood, Professor. Anything else?"

"That will be all. Thank-"

Coco ended the connection.

Everyone had heard the instructions.

Pyrrha mumbled, "Please lower the tail, Coco. You can take this airship to safety. There's something I have to do."

She squeezed Jaune's hand, then released him, and pushed her way to the back. Everyone turned to Coco, for her decision.

Cardin shook his head. "No. I'm not leaving. Go _home_? I'm from Odessa!"

No one understood. Coco kept her eyes on Pyrrha, waiting for her to leave earshot. Thinking it through, she realized, "You should go with her, Jaune."

He would vote against her if he was privy. Jaune pushed himself out of the circle while Cardin explained himself.

"Odessa was destroyed. I don't know about you guys, but… Beacon _is_ my home."

Nebula raised her hand with an objection. "Maybe you're all forgetting… The military had a simulation on this last week. Beacon fell."

Sun Wukong stepped in with, "Yeah, who put Coco in charge?"

"Professor Goodwitch did," Ruby noted.

Coco shrugged, "It doesn't matter. The military's simulation assumed we would run. We have thirty huntsmen in this transport, sweetie. I think that'll make a pretty big difference."

Nebula sighed and snapped back, "We're not huntsmen! We're students! Look at us! Is she even out of combat school?" She gestured to Ruby.

Ruby defended, "Yeah. I graduated two years early."

Nebula folded her arms.

Coco stared her down, then nodded, then turned to the cockpit, where Velvet Scarlatina had made herself comfortable. Coco gripped her shoulder and said, "We're going to Beacon."

"What?"

"Lower the tail."

Velvet understood. She flicked a switch.

Coco turned back to the crowd and shouted, "Hey! Nikos! Yeah, you! Gloryhound! This plane's going to Beacon. You're all huntsmen. If you want off my airship, you can jump!"

No one did. The decision had been made. Pyrrha gaped. She turned to Jaune and asked, "What did she call me?"

Coco turned her glare to Nebula, who swallowed and lowered her eyes. Velvet tensed under the awkwardness, then raised the tail again.

So they had committed to battle. The students tightened their laces and refit their clothes. Weapons checks. Hair pins.

More team leads joined the huddle, to follow the leader that had risen.

Blake took Weiss' scroll and called Yang.

Yang answered with a whisper. "Weiss? I never thought I'd say this, but I am so glad you called."

Blake smiled. "Tough luck. It's me. We're on our way to Beacon. We need to know what's happening."

Yang whispered, "They're everywhere. When that weird broadcast happened, they came over the walls and started running through the dorms. I think they're looking for something."

The team leaders traded glances.

Blake asked, "Yang, they're what? The Grimm are looking for something?"

Yang hissed, "No, not Grimm! White Fang! There are a lot of them! That guy with the chainsaw is here. They've got two Paladins in the court yard, and I think-"

She'd stopped to listen. They all heard a loud thump and feet scrambling.

She whispered, "They're in the next room over. I have to hide."

Something rustled against the microphone.

Someone shouted, "Clear!"

More footfalls, heavy. A loud crash. Their boots stormed the room, and the sounds of ransacking roared through the scroll. The quiet afterwards was short, punctuated by a man asking, "This is the room, right?"

The other sniffed, loud and aggressive. He took a step, then another, closer to the scroll. Everyone held their breath. He sniffed again.

"You smell that?"

"Yeah."

"They have dogs here?"

Zwei growled.

"Guess so. Clear!"

They ran out, taking their sounds to the next room. Blake asked, "Yang? Are you okay?"

A blurb of text spat back, "SHHHHH."

They listened intently. Ruby tapped the volume up to full. Two more men had entered, their feet much quieter and more relaxed. Someone heavy dropped his weight into a creaky bed. Someone else slammed the window open and asked, "Well?"

Blake recognized his voice. Her throat seized up. Her hairs straightened as if electrified. She stepped away from the scroll and gripped the transport's safety railing.

The man on the bed rumbled, "We will find her, Adam."

Adam turned his voice out the window. Down to the courtyard, he shouted, "We know she's here! Somewhere! Bring me Yang Xiao Long!"


	65. La Vie en Sang

Black clouds bubbled over the fields of Vale, roiling and threatening war, crawling their way towards the walls and thundering. The roar was continuous and rising in fervor from the stampede below. The dread sound shook through the sky to the ears of one Ruby Rose, inside an air transport.

Coco Adel and Flynt Coal stood beside her, planning. Flynt had straightened out his posture. Back in the tournament, he was a colorful and jazzy performer. Now, he was a soldier. He stood with his hands on his hips and gave Coco his full attention.

She asked, "We should tell someone what we're up to, right? I don't know how Atlas does its thing. Do we call TacCom?"

"No. We need to reach Fire Control directly. They're on the carrier. That scroll works, right? You got that connected to Radio Relay?"

He pointed to Ruby. She'd been staring at it, wishing it was in Weiss' hands, that she could check on her friend. She looked up at Flynt and said, "Yeah."

"May I?" He held out a hand, and she gave him the scroll.

As he was flipping through the application and adjusting his frequency, he glanced to the sword on Ruby's hip.

"Don't get to attached to that, by the way," he hummed, "It still belongs to the military."

Ruby looked down, where he'd nodded. In the chaos at the stadium, she'd taken up one of Penny's blades. She'd clipped it to her waist and forgotten about it.

She said, "Oh. Right. Yeah." And hoped he'd forget.

Until Penny was back to the way she'd been before, Ruby would clutch tight every artifact of their friendship.

Weiss' scroll blared to life as it reached the right frequency. Quick, murmured chatter flew across the airwaves. At its center was a voice calm and controlled. Ruby had heard it before, on field day. Fola Merlot.

She was answering a question. "You heard correctly, _Woglinde_. Threat Level Nine. Prepare for immediate contact."

Flynt pushed to talk.

"Hello. Am I on the line for Fleet Fire Control?"

Fola replied, "This is _Eidolon_ , I have Fire Control on the channel. Please state your callsign."

"Uh, Beacon Garrison. We have boots on the ground on the Beacon campus. So don't drop ordnance on us."

Fola answered, "I'll relay your request, Beacon Garrison. No promises. Be advised..."

She'd hesitated. There was shouting on her side. They heard Weiss.

"I'm a hostage! They sapped my aura! This is a- Ow!"

Fola shouted, "Security to the bridge!"

There were gunshots, then static.

Flynt raised his eyebrows. Ruby turned and looked out her window. She pointed to the carrier.

"We can get there! We need to fly over the bridge and rescue Weiss!"

Coco held out both hands as if she were a scale. "Are we rescuing Yang and defending the school, or rescuing Weiss and the Carrier?"

Flynt knife-handed, "If we lose the carrier, we lose Vale."

She countered, "If we don't fight on the ground, we lose Vale."

Ruby realized, "we can split up. We fly over the carrier, half of us jump out, the rest go to Beacon."

Coco flinched and squinted. "We're not going to jump from a moving object and land on a moving object. No one can do that."

"I can," Ruby insisted.

Flynt folded his arms and looked to Coco. Coco hesitated. She said, "Actually, yeah. Your semblance."

Flynt asked, "Your semblance?"

"I can change my inertia at will."

"Okay. But… You ever been in a real fight before? With the Retinue?"

Ruby swallowed. She knew there were people who hunted huntsmen. She knew there were bullets designed with her in mind. She said, "It doesn't matter. I have to try to help my friend."

Flynt was trying to keep his expression flat, but he was frowning slightly. He said, "Alright. We can spare one person, but… Make it work, Rose."

Coco turned to the cockpit and shouted, "Lower the tail and put us over the carrier."

Velvet frowned and shook her head, but turned.

Ruby pushed to the back, then stepped to the edge as the tail stopped.

Wind billowed her cape. City-scape scrolled below her. The transport leaned and lifted, to overtake their target. In the streets below, tracer rounds zigzagged between buildings. The air smelled like ozone. As they approached the fleet, she heard shipboard lasers discharging and scorching the air.

She checked Penny's blade on her hip. She tightened her cloak. She collapsed her sniper-scythe, Crescent Rose, and hugged her tight. She felt an arm on her shoulder. Blake. Her friend had a worried, but stern look, like she already knew. She shouted, "I like you, Ruby. But don't be yourself right now. You're about to fight the Retinue."

Ruby didn't answer. She didn't understand.

Blake pursed her lips. She said, "Ruby... Everyone in Vale is depending on your unhesitating ability to kill."

Ruby shook her head. "Heroes don't kill people, Blake. Heroes kill monsters."

Blake squeezed her shoulder and said, "Some people _are_ monsters," then released her, and stepped back.

Coco stepped forward, lay flat against the tail, and looked under the transport, ahead of them, for the carrier. She looked back at Ruby and held up a hand- as if flagging the start of a race. Ruby nodded.

She was scared. She'd fought before. She'd fought Grimm, in the woods at home. She'd fought thugs, when they mugged her in the city. She'd fought a White Fang militia in Mountain Glenn. After that, the nightmares started. Sometimes she'd lay down to sleep, close her eyes, and hear gunshots. The possibility was creeping on her, the nagging "what if" of death. She wondered if she was warrior enough to be a huntress.

Below her, dark wisps of motion infected the air. One slowed enough for its silhouette to reform. She recognized a Griffon. Flak burst it apart. Then more came. So many more, and all at once. She'd never seen a swarm that large.

She knew this had happened before, in Mountain Glenn. There was a very real "what if" here, that she, and everyone she knew, were going to die the way those people had. She remembered her mother's last words to Apple.

"Make this count."

Ruby gripped the clasp of her cloak, her mother's iron cross.

She repeated her mantra.

"I'm going to be a hero. I'm going to be a hero. I'm going-"

Coco's hand dropped. Ruby stepped forward and plunged into the world at war. Wind and flak and bursts of darkness danced around her. That fall was the shortest minute of her life. Glass shattered beneath her feet. She swung her scythe out to full deployment, redirecting her momentum to angular spin. The physics violation tore holes in the universe around her, and rose petals flittered in from the void.

The next ten seconds were her longest.

A soldier put a gun to Weiss' head. The trigger-finger flexed. Two soldiers turned Ruby's way. Bullets skipped at her feet. She rested Crescent's shaft at her hips, aimed, and triggered a high-impact round. The soldier threatening Weiss became blood mist. The weapon's recoil tossed Ruby into another bad guy. Her feet left the ground. She transferred her momentum into Crescent, into the spike at the shaft's base, and gutted her target. She rolled, put her feet on the ceiling, and sprinted over Weiss' head, cleaving two bodies as she outpaced the soldiers' aim. The arms holding Weiss fell slack.

Someone shouted, "Huntress!"

Ruby ran down the wall and slid under two more soldiers. Her scythe split them as she passed. There were still at least three. She stood and tried to rush one, beside the helm, but she slipped on blood. That mistake saved her life. A fourth soldier, behind the console, emptied a magazine where her head was supposed to be. She recovered and twirled, slicing them both. She landed beside Weiss and a grenade. She hit Weiss, transferring all her momentum, and catapulting her friend out a window. The grenade popped. Her ears rang, and Crescent Rose wasn't in her hands.

She felt numb.

She was on her face.

She looked up.

Two gun barrels swung her way.

She pulled Penny's blade from her hip. She wanted to save Yang. She wished her mother was here to protect her. She had the blade in her hand. She was lifting it and preparing to throw. The handle slipped through her fingers, and they closed over a sharp, invisible thread dangling from the weapon. This was the secret to Penny's dancing blade trick.

The las rifles spat. Plasma pooled around her. The blade flew, and her semblance spread along the string to the tool.

Her aura collapsed. A searing glob of energy tore her shoulder.

Her blade made two quick flicks.

And she was alone.

Ruby fell back against a wall, hyperventilating and crying and bleeding.

Her arm hurt.

She'd cut her finger's on Penny's blade-wire.

She felt dizzy.

She wanted to puke.

She didn't know what to do.

She wanted someone to be there with her.

And then the radio on the helm blared to life.

Her mother said, "Ruby? Ruby, you're in shock. It's okay. You're going to be okay."

She steadied her breathing. Her mother always praised a stiff upper-lip.

Something gurgled. At a station across the bridge, a young officer with red hair was trying to speak. She had plasma burning in her chest. She was reaching for her station.

Over the speakers, summer said, "Ruby, get up. Go see what she's doing."

Ruby forced herself up, one arm cradled, the other bracing her on the turbulence railings as she walked. Her bleeding had stopped. Good. The aura-shock from the dust rounds was wearing off, and her shield was returning to strength. It tickled across her skin as coverage returned.

She reached the gurgling woman in time for her last breath. Blood bubbles popped over her final sigh. Ruby looked where her hand had reached. There was a button there, dim, reading, "Auto."

Over the speakers, Summer said, "Push it, Ruby."

She did. The button lit up. Across the fleet, Fola Merlot's recorded voice announced, "Command hierarchy is compromised until further notice. All vessels are to remain on plan. These recordings will provide Grimm movement readouts. Swarm Malice will arrive at Milestone One in forty minutes. Ground forces should retreat from Beacon immediately. Swarm Vanity will arrive at…"

Ruby turned away and walked to the Helm. She looked at the speaker, where her mother's voice was coming from. She could hear her mother breathing, and the summer breeze of Patch blowing on her end. Ruby pushed the radio mic live and said, "Mom?"

Summer had a smile in her voice. She said, "You did good, sweetie. Just like your Uncle Qrow taught you. Now patch yourself up and get back to your friends."

Ruby looked at her shoulder. It wouldn't fully heal for a week, but she needed to fight tonight. If she could get to a medical kit…

She pushed the mic button and said, "Okay, mom. I'll go do that."

She turned away to search.

Another voice stopped her. The radio had static and noise, and the voice was sadder and calmer than she'd ever heard it, but she recognized Penny.

"Salutations, friend."

Ruby ran back to the radio and shouted, "Penny? Penny! You're okay!"

"I am alive," Penny corrected, "But Ciel is not. I had a plan, Ruby. But in my plan, Ciel would be alive. Sometimes plans do not go the way we imagine."

Ruby didn't know a Ciel. Racking her memory, she remembered the Retinue Agent always stalking Penny. She looked at the bodies around her- then breathed a sigh of relief- that she hadn't made a mistake.

She said, "Penny, I'm sorry. I know it's hard to lose a friend. But I'm so, so glad that you're okay."

"She was not my friend," Penny corrected. "She was my sister."

Ruby didn't understand. That was only the beginning of what she didn't understand.

Penny said, "You're in the bridge right now, right? I'm going to the tower, Ruby. I want you to meet me there. You have to help me."

Ruby smiled. The adrenaline high, the turnaround of fortunes, turned her tears to joy.

"Penny, that's great! We're all going to the school to defend it! But watch out! I think there's a civil war or something in Atlas! They tried to kidnap Weiss and they're all shooting each other!"

Penny hesitated. That was odd. She'd always taken the same amount of time to answer, just over a second. Ruby counted two seconds.

Penny answered, "I know. That was part of my plan. Ruby, we're friends, right?"

Now Ruby hesitated.

Over the radio, her mother advised her. "Be selective with your friends, Ruby. Friendship is the most valuable, and most expensive thing in life."

Ruby pushed the button and said, "Yeah, Penny. We're friends."

Penny said, "I've been hacking the CCT. I've been learning everything. I learned… I know why Father created me. I know why Ironwood helped him. I know my purpose. I know my destiny now, Ruby. I was created to become the Fall Maiden. And I want you to help me."

Summer said, "She may have gone crazy."

Ruby agreed. But she said, "Okay, Penny. We'll talk about it when we meet up."

"Stay safe, Ruby. Penny out."

Ruby took a step back from the console, to distance herself and get some perspective. She was in a world stained red like blood. She needed a better perspective. Or, if she couldn't have that, she needed to see this world so clearly that she could find her way out.

The faces around her were terrified. And she'd been a mistake away from perishing like them, in agony and fear.

Summer said, "Ruby, don't forget your weapons."

Ruby clipped Penny's blade to her waist. She picked up Crescent Rose.

The door opened.

Ruby had never reacted so quickly before. She'd fired off three rounds and taken cover behind the helm before she caught up with herself.

Roman was shouting, "Whoa! Little Red, you grew up fast! Good save, Neo. I'll give you a raise when civilization's rebuilt. Hey, Little Red. That is you, right?"

Summer said, "They're enemies, Ruby. You can't fight two of them injured. Run."

Roman's shoe slipped and squeaked on blood. "Eugh. Red, I thought you were one of the good guys. What's with all the corpses? Look, it doesn't matter. We're not looking for a fight. We just need to steal a Bullhead and get out of here."

Ruby looked out the front windows, to the flight deck. She heard Neapolitan's heels clicking as she moved to flank.

Ruby tested her grip on Crescent Rose, and her boots' tread on the floor. She had her route planned, every maneuver and twirl and zig-zag. As long as she got a straight shot across the flight deck, her semblance could glide her to Beacon. She was pushing boundaries. But she'd be with her friends.

"So here's a proposal," Roman said. "You don't fight us, and we won't fight you. And we'll just meander on out to the flight deck and be on our way. Deal?"

A Griffon landed on the window and roared, its maw unhinging to a black pit larger than a man.

Roman shouted, "Whoa! Neo! New plan! We're staying in here!"

So Ruby wouldn't be followed. She leaped for the glass, crashing through it, and slid over the creature's back to begin her work.

The Griffin Kata was not a frantic action. She wasn't fighting humans. This was a beast so studied and understood that its execution was a mere performance. She'd practiced this thousands of times, her positioning pre-empting any strike from the creature's forearms. Every time it turned to find her, she was soaring, or arcing, jumping about with Crescent Rose as her fulcrum or anchor, until she landed on its back and dumped ammunition into the base of its skull. Roman looked stunned. Neapolitan clapped in approval.

Ruby turned and pushed the limits of speed.


	66. Damn we Look Good

Coco Adel stood at the air transport's front. Velvet handed her the intercom mic. She lifted it to her mouth, and looked over her force. She didn't feel confident. Everyone was looking at her, as if her leadership would make this impossible task possible.

She had some leadership experience. Not enough for this, but someone had to step forward. Someone had to show this class what they could really do. She had the attention of the world's greatest students, all kitted in the finest gear humanity had ever produced. They couldn't see themselves. She had to show them.

As her mother had put it, "Aesthetic is everything."

Coco faked a smirk, pressed her mic, and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking."

She got an excited blush out of Nora, and chuckles from team Cardinal.

So she gestured to Yatsuhashi. Her big buddy stood a head taller than anyone else, with shoulders two feet broader. He held up a tourist map of Beacon.

Coco continued, "Our current cruising altitude is ten-thousand feet, and our estimated flight time is five minutes. During your visit to Beacon, we hope you will enjoy these attractions, in order. First, the tour will be making a quick stop by the dorms."

She pointed to Yang's dorm. She could see the intense focus from her comrades. She felt her own confidence rising.

Dropping the humorous tone, she pointed to Cardin.

"Team Cardinal will do the room clearing. Keep your shields high and be thorough. Teams Juniper and Coffee will be your security while you get Yang."

She pointed back to the map.

"Across the courtyard from the dorms, far side of the Great Hall; this little building is the armory. Teams Silver, Foxfire, Indigo, and Funky: This is your job. The White Fang have at least two Paladins in the courtyard. We can't fight them with training rounds. You get us into the armory, then we go loud."

She pointed to the campus' rear.

"After we kick out the White Fang, we need to take and hold The Tower."

The first question appeared, a raised hand from Flynt Coal.

Coco pointed. Flynt asked, "Why the tower? The CCT network is already down. It would be easier to hold the campus against Grimm if we give up the CCT Tower and hold the slopes facing Mountain Glenn."

The foreign teams nodded in agreement.

Pyrrha Nikkos snapped, "We have to guard the tower."

Flynt shrugged, "Why?"

Coco interrupted, reclaiming the attention.

"This tower was the first structure in Vale. The lamp atop it is a Beacon, lit thousands of years ago, so that every hopeless soul in the world could join this effort. No matter what happens tonight- when the sun rises, that Beacon stays lit."

And to end all discussion on that note, Velvet leaned back from the cockpit.

"We should get ready. It's almost time."

Coco put her team at the tail's tip, with Blake attached. They had to be first in and last out. Waiting at the edge, Coco wondered if her speech had lost momentum. She wondered if this was all a terrible idea. She shook her head free of doubt. Still, a way to solidify everyone's resolve…

She saw the cliffs pass below them. They were over the plateau. Time to jump. Her neck ached. She was tense. People could probably tell. So she stood, straightened up, and faced everyone.

"One last thing," she said. "You're huntsmen."

She lowered her glasses. "So make this look good."

She leaned out backwards, winked, and turned to glide. The clouds were thick and dark. Falling through them gave her a chill the bay's weather never had. Breaching through, she checked her shoulders, and she realized: damn, they did look cool.

She spotted the paladins in the courtyard. Tiny White Fang uniforms covered the campus like ants. Like thousands of ants.

She spotted the dorm building. As she angled toward it, her teammates closed formation with her, and all hit the roof together. It buckled, the next floor buckled, and they landed fists up in front of team RWBY's door. A pack of soldiers lounged at the far end of the hallway. They'd stopped, surprised, to stare at team Coffee.

Coco flicked her briefcase open, dropping into her firing stance and catching the minigun's handle as the transformation completed. The ceiling above the faunus caved in, and team JNPR landed where they'd been. Coco checked her back. The other end of the hallway had another pack. Team CRDL landed on them.

And then there was silence. No alarms raised, no shouting or gunshots. Velvet whispered, "Coco! The plan actually worked!"

"Of course it worked." She nodded to Cardin, and the teams took their positions.

Cardin kicked in RWBY's door and found… wreckage. There'd been a fight in there. Cardin stepped out and shook his head. "Sorry, Blake. She's not… Blake?"

Coco took a head count. She looked up through their entry hole. No Blake.

Velvet murmured, "Uh oh."

Coco hissed, "She's fine. If she landed off target, we'll meet up with her in the tower. Cardin, Yang may have changed rooms. Keep searching."

They did. Coco camped out on one side of the building, Jaune and his team on the other. And they waited, minutes bleeding out of their plan. She hid in Team RWBY's unlit room, watching out the window, as the faunus restlessly pacing around their stolen Paladins. They had city clothes. These weren't wilderness rebels.

Beside her, Velvet whispered, "Coco? I think I know that one. I think…"

She whispered back, "Yeah. They're from Vale. I've probably met some in passing, too- Waiting a table, or ringing cash at a store."

She looked at Velvet, to watch her rabbit ears twitch, to watch her understand. The horror crept on her. These were people who had smiled and played along with the society they were now sworn to destroy.

Coco whispered, "Hey, Velvet?"

Velvet looked at her. "Yeah?"

"I'll understand if you want to sit this out." She waited a beat, for dramatic effect. "But I think they'll be a lot less tolerant about a race traitor."

The clouds broke, rain pattering, then pouring and frigid. Velvet shivered. A bolt of lightning illuminated her face in the dark room.

Coco asked, "Do you understand me, Velvet?"

Velvet nodded. "Primo Victoria?"

Coco smiled and nodded. "Primo Victoria."

Heavy footsteps pounded down the hallway. Cardin opened the door and leaned in. "Yang isn't here. What do we do, Coco?"

She didn't know. She knew, but she didn't like it. It wasn't an order she wanted to give- not after losing Blake. She formed the words in her mind, "We move on without her," but never had to say it.

The faunus all perked their ears up and turned away. Then a shout. "Someone's attacking the armory! Get the Paladins over there!"

Coco changed her phrasing. "Go loud. Go loud! Make everybody in that courtyard feel special!"

She braced her minigun against the window and opened a bloody chapter in history. Muzzle flashes answered from the Great Hall. Their friends at the armory had set up. The courtyard became a no-man's land. The faunus split their attention and tried to fight. Then, falling in large numbers, they turned and fled. The Paladins made cover, and the Faunus reformed in the darkness of the cliffs. As the last target ran out of range, Coco's minigun cycled down.

Cardin asked, "They ran. Do you think we whipped them?"

"No. I think they're smart. We need to regroup and get to the tower before they counter."

She had a torch, and sent a brief series of flashes across the courtyard, then waved her arms like semaphore flags. She got an affirmative reply, and they all ran.

The CCT foyer was a playground of thick, wooden desks and metal computers. The process of barricading reminded her of Team RWBY's blanket fort fights- only this was less fun and more desperate. And Glynda caught them faster. An elevator dinged, she stepped out, and Coco felt like she was on the wrong end of her minigun.

"Miss Adel! I told you to run! You can't fortify this place! Children! Stop! Everyone who stays here is going to die! I'm sorry, but whatever confidence Coco has instilled in you is false hope. If you want to live, leave Vale."

Coco checked her watch.

"The Grimm are going to be here in about half an hour, Professor Goodwitch. It's too late to run."

Cardin's team had stopped working. At Coco's point, they shrugged and got back to barricading. Team Indigo sprinted into the front door, Funky and Foxfire close behind. Glynda put a hand to her forehead and reeled as if they'd already died.

Nebula had risen to lead those teams. She found Coco's side and reported, "We lost team Silver."

Coco shrugged, "Yeah, we lost Blake. If they stick to the plan, they'll-"

"They're dead," Nebula corrected.

Coco stopped. Everyone stopped.

Coco glanced to Glynda, then demanded from Nebula, "How? What happened?"

"The White Fang were already in the armory when we got there. They had some aura piercing. Here."

She dropped a crate of Dust cartridges for Coco's minigun, and asked, "Where's Yang?"

Coco shook her head, "Not at the dorms. We need to get ready for a counter attack. The White Fang won't give up while they've got those Paladins. Professor Goodwitch, are you with us?"

Glynda crossed her arms. She looked furiously opposed. She asked, "Was it worth it, Coco? You got to play soldier. Now your friends are going to die."

Everyone looked to Coco for an answer, for some reason to stay and die for this spire.

She wanted to say something inspiring about the fallen, but she realized she'd never even learned their names. So she said, "They died as a team. Most Hunstmen die alone."

She put her hands on another desk and shoved.


	67. Where's Yang?

Adam Taurus exhaled the end of his meditation and stood from the incense in his tent. In the mirror, he had the look of a crazed animal. Veins streaked across his chest and bulged over muscle. The aching wilderness in his mind emerged as horns. Sharp shadows reached like claws over his form. His eyes reflected the light of the incense.

He struck a match and burned a candle, brightening his tent. He took his coat from the stand and looked it over. The black garment had been glossed like polished onyx to reflect night. The wilted flower embroidered along it glistened like blood. He twirled it over his back and slipped his arms in. Clasping it closed, he looked again in the mirror, and saw a statesman.

He turned to his table, bare feet treading down Beacon's grass. He unraveled his map of the campus and laid it out. Each corner got its own weight: a pocket watch, a protractor, a compass, and his sword and sheathe, Wilt and Bloom.

He traced a finger along the map, skimming his notes, the scrabbles in the margins, the marks over the grid squares, and tapped his finger on the slopes to Mountain Glenn- reassuring himself. This was the best place to stand against the Grimm. A lot of Faunus were going to die for this plan.

Heavy boots and a growl approached, then flipped his tent open and saluted, fist over heart.

Adam looked up from his map, then up further at his lieutenant.

Banesaw reported, "Huntsmen just fell out of the sky."

Adam nodded, "And you called a retreat."

"Yes."

"Did we lose the Paladins?"

"No."

"Good. Infantry losses?"

"Still within your predictions."

"So we're still on plan."

"No."

"No?"

"The plan was that 'a few' students would resist us."

"How many are there?"

"At least thirty. And they are organized. I think you should consider adding the Shadow Pact to-"

Adam stopped him with a curt wave. "No. We keep them in reserve until Cinder desecrates the tower. After that, there's no reason to let a human be the Fall Maiden."

Banesaw nodded, "We will make do with the Paladins."

"Take second company away from the wall garrison if you have to. Just make sure they're back before the Grimm arrive."

Banesaw saluted and left. Adam checked the pocket watch and added a note to his map. As he did, the candle extinguished, and he was in darkness. He turned to look at it. He turned back to the entrance, and met Blake Belladonna's gaze.

She snapped, "Where's Yang?"

Adam smiled. There was something fun and familiar about a normal conversation with Blake. He asked, "Do you know the name Cinder Fall?"

She drew Gambol shroud. "Where is Yang?"

Adam stood tall and broad. "Cinder has a plan to become the Fall Maiden. Don't knock it; Your own mother did it once. Only, Kali went and died in Mountain Glenn."

"My mother died at Chernobyl."

"No. She _abandoned_ you at Chernobyl, after a fortune teller told her what you are."

Blake Brandished Gambol Shroud at him. "You are about to die!"

Adam reached over the table and unraveled a Fate Map. It was meaningless chicken scratch to the two of them, but it proved his next point.

"We've consulted all of the sages, Blake. Cinder Fall is going to become the Fall Maiden tonight. And she's going to the top of that tower. She's going to sacrifice Pyrrha Nikkos to desecrate the tower. And the age of Huntsmen will end. Tonight is the beginning of the Third Crusade. I want you to be part of this. Together, we-"

"I don't care about your plans for the White Fang, Adam! I want my friend back!"

"Friend? She hasn't mentioned you."

He'd pet the kitty's stomach; he knew to expect the claws.

She fired, and ten rounds of 10mm delivered stopping power to his horned skull. Blake's hand shook.

Adam sighed, let the pain subside, and growled at her, "It's already been a long night, Blake. And I really don't like it when we fight. You know I don't want to hurt you."

Blake gulped. She was remembering that Adam could not be killed with small arms and determination.

She trembled, and asked again, "Where. Is. Yang?"

"Let's make a deal."

"You can't have me back. It's too late for that."

He snorted, a laugh. "I think we've established that."

"And you will never get to touch me again!"

He sneered, "I already have a mate," and waited for further demands.

Blake hesitated. She swallowed. "What do you want?"

"I want you to go back to that tower, where all your friends are camping out. When my army arrives, we'll show you Yang. She's unharmed. You show us Ruby Rose, dead. And then we'll release Yang and be on our Merry way. You and Yang and all of your friends… Not Ruby… But your other friends will be spared."

Blake shivered.

Adam finished, "And if you don't, we'll cut off Yang's limbs one at a time, finish with her head, and then attack."

He smirked at her. There was nothing she could do. And if she could, she wouldn't.

With wide, horrified eyes, she asked, "Why Ruby?"

He smiled. It wasn't her business. She didn't need to know. "It's not about Ruby. It's about you."

The camp finally responded to her weapon discharging. Soldiers were sprinting to the tent. Adam waved goodbye, and Blake vanished in a puff of smoke.


	68. Tower Defense

Coco Adel had a lot of ammunition to load. She rested her minigun over her lap and surveyed the foyer while she worked. She had to decide, before her enemies came, exactly how her friends would survive the night. Who did she need? Where did she need them?

She saw Pyrrha Nikkos, kneeling beside Jaune Arc, their hands clasped together, eyes closed, lips repeating mantras. She wondered if they were dating. She wondered if that was bad. Above them, Nora and Ren huddled on the barricade and argued over the binoculars.

Coco shook her head and looked to her right, where team Cardinal stretched and warmed up, and team Indigo prepared their play calls. Nebula kept her team organized with serious glares and decisive gestures. Beside them, Team Foxfire took turns praying behind cover. Coco had never really learned about the desert monks. She watched them long enough to understand that she wouldn't understand.

So she turned to look at team Funky, the Atlas crew. They all lay perfectly still, weapons and eyes on the horizon. And beside them, Coco's own friends. Yatsuhashi meditated. Fox, blind eyes closed, sat with him. Velvet nervously arranged small office supplies on the barricade.

Coco checked her shoulder. She saw Professor Goodwitch at the elevators, arms crossed and face crosser, pacing. Glynda glanced at Pyrrha. Pyrrha glanced back. Coco saw conspiracy in their held gazes.

At the room's center, a holographic greeter politely asked everyone to return the furniture to its proper position. They hadn't figured out how to turn her off.

Coco set the last fold of her ammo belt into the feeder, slammed it shut, and cycled it in. She checked her scroll. She called out, "Twenty minutes until the Grimm get here. If we can hold the White Fang until then, they'll have to retreat."

The front doors thumped against the barricade. Everyone raised their weapons. There was a struggle, like a small animal rummaging. A tiny voice demanded, "Who put this here?"

Cardin monotoned, "Great. Weiss is back."

Coco scolded him with her tone. "Let her in."

They scooted the rubble aside, and the heiress stepped in. She looked like she'd fought her way to the top of the mole rat hierarchy. Open scratches and mud covered her.

Coco asked, "Where's Ruby?"

A red streak fell from the sky and skidded to a stop in the entrance. A wave of rose petals washed over Coco. She held her hand out to catch one. It faded from existence before she could examine it.

Ruby saw Weiss and shrieked. "Oh my god! You're alright!"

Weiss rounded on her. "No thanks to you, Ruby!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't know what to do and they were-"

"You threw me out a window! I don't have my aura, you dolt!"

"-I know, but there was a grenade and-"

"I could have fallen to my death and been squished like a pancake!"

Weiss slapped her hands together to make the sound, then folded her arms. Ruby waited for her to accept the apology, mouth twitching from smile to worry, then confusion.

She realized, "Wait. Weiss, how _did_ you survive?"

Weiss pursed her lips and looked up, as if trying to fabricate an answer. "Would you believe me if I said that your Uncle Qrow turned into a giant bird and caught me?"

Ruby tilted her head in confusion. "No, Weiss. That's stupid."

Weiss put her hands on her hips and sighed, "Fine. Then I invented a parachute while I was falling."

"Well I'm glad you're okay, Weiss."

Weiss dropped her indignant outrage act. She softened. "And I'm glad that you're…"

She looked at Ruby's shoulder, where her aura glimmered over a bullet wound. Muscle slithered into place and reknit as she watched. Coco could see Ruby's pupils jerking in random directions from across the room. And the blade on her hip, the one she'd taken off Penny's corpse, dripped blood. So she'd fought soldiers on the carrier.

Weiss asked, "Ruby? _Are_ you okay?"

Ruby nodded sideways. "It's been a rough day, Weiss. Let's go look for Yang."

Coco didn't want to be the one they asked. She turned away, and came face-to-face with Blake.

Coco startled. "Blake! Jeez." She sighed the surprise free and straightened her glasses. "Took the long way around?"

Blake watched Ruby and Weiss walk away. So she was avoiding them, too. She nodded. "Yeah."

Coco nodded, "Yeah?" and waited for an explanation.

Blake repeated, "Yeah," then looked her in the eyes and said, "I took the long way around."

She tried to walk away.

Coco cut her off with a quick step. She whispered, "Hey, Blake? You're on _our_ side, right?"

Blake held her breath and looked Coco in the eye.

Coco said, "I get if you want to sit out the fight until the Grimm show up. But you're not gonna' shoot us in the back, are you?"

Blake remained inscrutable and still for a few seconds, then replied, "Why would you even ask that?"

Coco lowered her glasses and levelled her gaze. "Because you haven't asked me where Yang is."

Blake looked away. She licked her lips and flinched as if scolding herself. She looked back and admitted, "Adam took her."

"And he wants you to… Kill Weiss?"

"I'm not letting him take any more of my friends."

"But if you don't do what he wants...?"

"Yeah. They're gonna kill Yang."

"So. What are we gonna do, Blake?"

Blake trembled. Her eyes watered. She snorted back the wave of fear behind those tears, and she whimpered, "I don't know."

Coco patted her shoulder. "Don't do anything stupid. We'll figure something out."

Blake nodded. She wiped her tears and left, to sit with Velvet.

Coco sighed the stress of that moment free. She had no idea how Yang was surviving the night. Weiss tapped her shoulder and demanded, "Coco, are we planning to hold the Grimm _here_?"

Coco's frustration slipped loose. She snapped, "No, Weiss. We're fighting the White Fang first."

Weiss had missed the memo. Her eyes bulged. "What?"

Coco pointed. "Two Paladins, about a thousand infantry, and maybe five of Remnant's deadliest assassins. They'll be back real soon."

Weiss looked properly scared. She steeled herself and said, "Well you're doing it all wrong."

Coco chuckled, "Everyone's a critic."

"Excuse me," Weiss snapped. She checked her shoulders, and continued in a more hushed tone, "I'll remind you that I'm Weiss _Schnee_. My family designed the CCT towers. They are fortifications. I have studied every siege against Schnee holdings. I know what I'm talking about right now."

Coco bit the inside of her cheeks. Weiss had been kind enough to whisper, so Coco would be kind enough to hear her out. She pulled her glasses down and said, "Make it good."

Weiss cleared her throat and began. "For starters, our force is composed entirely of huntsmen. Mobility is our strength. We shouldn't be manning a barricade, especially one that can't stand up to a Paladin's flamethrowers."

Coco looked at the wall. It was pretty terrible. She asked, "Anything else?"

"Yeah. There are two entrances. Duh."

Coco scratched her forehead. "Oh, right."

She looked across the foyer, at her assets, and shouted, "Foxfire. You guys. There's a rear entrance. You cover it."

They sprinted to obey. Coco looked back at Weiss, pursing her lips at the details she'd missed.

"And thirdly…" Weiss cleared her throat and called, "Assistant!"

The greeting hologram appeared beside her and chirped, "Miss Schnee! Welcome to the-"

"-Executive Override. Activate War Mode."

"Yes, Miss Schnee." The hologram bowed, then flickered. It turned red, and its outfit changed to a military uniform. The windows shuttered with a great, "CLANG!" as palladium plates dropped into position. Everyone else startled from the noise.

Coco smiled and nodded. "Cool."

"Yeah," Weiss admitted, "The front basically holds itself with the laser turrets. As long as the sally port is manned by at least two huntsman, we can have a picnic in here. At least… Until the Grimm arrive."

The hologram beside her coughed politely, to interrupt. "Miss Schnee. There appears to be a network error affecting active defense systems."

Coco asked "No picnic?"

Weiss grimaced, then shook her head. "No picnic."

Coco cycled her first round into place. "What a shame."

Weiss folded her arms. She looked scared again. She said, "We have a motto in SDC. 'Property can be recovered; lives cannot.' After we have Yang…" She swallowed a sociopathic realization and amended, "Before the Grimm get here, we should leave."

Coco nodded that she understood. "Thanks for your input, Weiss. Keep that last part to yourself."

Beside the elevators, Glynda Goodwitch unfolded her arms and murmured, "Finally."

Coco turned to see. The elevator dinged, opened, and presented Headmaster Ozpin.

He stepped into the lobby cane first, coffee and scarf second, just as on any other school day. He looked at the assembled force, not with surprise, but with a mellow smile peeking just above his scarf. Scanning the room, he saw Blake, and murmured, "Interesting. Thank you for joining us, Miss Belladonna."

He nodded approvingly to Coco. Then his eyes fell to Pyrrha Nikkos.

He said, "It is time."

Pyrrha nodded. Jaune stood with her, and they kept their hands clasped as they followed Ozpin and Glynda into the elevator.

Coco looked to Ren and Nora for an explanation. They looked just as surprised. Coco stammered, "U-uh, hey, uh, Professor?"

Ozpin turned in the elevator to face them, then held up his hands to start a speech. He only said, "No matter what happens tonight, the tower cannot fall."

The elevator closed and descended. The students all stared.

Nora shouted, "Isn't he going to help us?!"

Ruby pointed and asked, "Where are Pyrrha and Jaune going?"

Nebula snapped, "What the hell? Is there an escape tunnel down there?"

Coco swallowed. She didn't have answers. But the disorder was rising as voices, shouting and pointing.

Coco stuck two fingers in her mouth and drowned them out with a whistle. She had a moment of their attention before the siege. She had to tell them how they were going to survive. They had to believe that this made a difference.

She straightened her beret. Looking cool is being cool. She waited for her throat to steady. She said, "The whole world's ending tonight. I know it isn't easy, but together-"

War horns shattered the moment. The sound shook everything. Coco turned to team Funky, where they huddled on the barricade and peered through the slats.

Katt looked to her and nodded, "They're here."


	69. Rot Schnee

The War Horns of the White Fang resembled the deep moan of a goliath. A thousand infantry, and the footfalls of Paladins accompanied them. And between the paladins, held aloft by the most decorated assassins in the world, was Yang Xiao Long.

Inside the tower, behind the palladium windows, Weiss Schnee peered throw a rifle slat. She turned inward and called, "Ruby! They have Yang!"

Ruby rushed to her left. Blake appeared at her right. Weiss startled at both, then reclaimed her place at the slat. Yang's head dangled low and dripped blood. Beside her walked the executioner. He stood three heads over the rest. And as the procession stopped, he lifted a chainsaw the length of a man. The engine revved and dust particles spiraled out from its teeth. Weiss knew that Faunus. She'd nearly died to him in Mountain Glenn, on the train.

Blake introduced, "Banesaw."

Weiss shivered and stepped back from the slat. Ruby flicked her weapon, and Crescent Rose deployed to its full sniping configuration. Blake stepped aside, and Weiss noted, "Yang's wounds aren't closing. Her aura's gone."

Blake swallowed, mustering enough courage to say, "I have it."

Weiss turned to her. "You what?"

"She pushed it onto me last night. To heal my rib. She…" Blake folded her arms. Her lip trembled. She looked at Ruby.

Ruby wasn't in the conversation. She was in her scope, one hand dialing an adjustment, the other resting on the trigger grip. Her cheek rested atop the stock.

Coco Adel slid to her side and pointed. "Ruby. Shadow of the Paladin on the right. That's Adam Taurus. We've got three rounds of High-Impact Aura Piercing. Nail him first and we can win this."

Ruby didn't shift. She dove her off-hand into her mag hopper, and held one out. "Weiss! Burn, Uncut. Top it with two Cabochon Gravities!"

Weiss took the magazine and ran to the ammo pile in the room's center.

Coco breathed frustration through her nose, then tried to explain with forceful hand gestures, "They're only here because Adam wants Blake! Cut the head off the snake!"

Weiss returned, thumbing the last round into place. She handed the magazine to Ruby and argued, "Yang is your sister and my teammate! Shoot Banesaw!"

Ruby hadn't reacted to anyone. She pushed her magazine into the receiver.

A loud blaring filled the courtyard.

Coco hissed, "Damn it!" and ran to another team, to give orders that would be obeyed.

The blaring dimmed, and a voice replaced it, speaking over the Paladin's speakers.

Adam Taurus had a mocking smile in his tone. "Heeeeeere kitty, kitty."

Weiss turned to Blake, to where she'd been standing. Only an image remained. She'd learned to distinguish Blake's semblance from the real thing. The shadow flickered. It captured her expression- the exact moment she'd let fear overpower her friendships.

Weiss took a step away, moved by the Tragedy of Blake. "Ruby. She ran."

Ruby racked her slide, watching as the first gravity round moved into place. She rested again against the stock.

Adam chuckled over the airwaves. "I'll give you ten seconds, Blake. Teeeeeeeeeen…"

Weiss watched Ruby align the shot. Two huntresses held Yang by her arms. Banesaw stood behind her, ready to remove them. If Ruby could land three shots in rapid succession, Yang would be free. But then what? She didn't look like she could walk, like she was even conscious.

"Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine…"

Yang looked up, and Weiss wished she hadn't. She wished her friend could sleep through what was about to happen.

Coco shouted, "Team Cardinal! Nora, Ren! You six form up together and go around the right side of the tower. Team Indigo, go around the left. Put all of your opening fire on the center. We want Yang back. Team Funky! You! Catgirl with the roller skates! You're my Quarterback!"

"Eeeeight…"

Banesaw revved his weapon. Neon Katt and Coco stood at the front doors. Coco stood by the button. Katt strapped her roller blades on, shouting, "You realize this was a gimmick, right?"

"Can you do it, or not?"

"Just keep them suppressed! If I take heat, I'm coming back!"

She tied her laces, found her starting mark, and breathed, "Never miss a beat."

"Seeeeeven…"

Ruby said, "Good idea, Mom."

Weiss asked, "What?"

Ruby turned to her, but looked through her, eyes focused too far. "Make another mag. Freeze topped with Aura Piercing." She rested her head on the stock again, enslaved to the scope. Weiss dug into her friends' hip hopper and retrieved another magazine. She ran to the ammo pile as Ruby whispered, "Yeah. I'm friends with Weiss Schnee, Mom."

"Siiiiiiix…"

Weiss had heard of shell shock and hallucinations and PTSD and all sorts of things she wasn't qualified to diagnose. For tonight, she just hoped Ruby remembered how to use her weapon.

"Fiiiiive…"

The pile had almost enough crystals left to fill the mag. Weiss' little fingers made it quick and easy. She finished pressing the last round into place, looked up, and saw Cinder and Emerald waiting for an elevator. Emerald winked at her. She looked to Coco, for help. She looked back. They were gone.

"Foooooooooour…"

Weiss told herself to focus. She put the last round in place and ran back to Ruby. She handed over the magazine.

"That's all of your ammo, Ruby."

Ruby didn't answer.

Coco pointed, "Alright, Ruby! On your signal!"

"Threeeee…"

Ruby exhaled. She closed her eyes. Her finger tensed, slowly, slowly, slowly building pressure until the shot was ready to happen. A tear slipped loose from her eye, and she whispered, "I know, Mom."

Adam had started his, "Twoooo-" when the projectile struck Banesaw. The crystal shattered against his chest, and he fell to his knees. The gravity exerted in his area was now four powers greater than normal. The second crystal struck his mask, and his head went to the ground at sixteen powers normal gravity.

Weiss looked to Adam. The leader had dropped his microphone and hidden like a coward. Ruby was still firing. Burn crystals seared the air, spreading fire around their targets. Huntsmen ran for cover. Normies immolated. Crescent's barrel glowed and smoked like a dragon.

Neon Katt launched herself at Yang, skating for a record. Beacon's guns made a continuous roar.

Ruby emptied the magazine and flicked the release. And finally, the White Fang recovered from their shock and shot back.

Weiss handed over the next magazine and looked through the door.

Neon Katt had reached Yang. She was now trading blows with three dedicated killers. Two. Ruby split Aqua at the waist. Weiss watched her top half crawl around, then sit idle and upright. She looked down and seemed to realize- right as it happened- that she was dead.

Ruby kept firing. She hadn't blinked. Neon zipped into the room, bleeding from a dud arm, cradling the gash along it. She'd lost her fight and her aura- and Yang. Weiss looked again, out the door, past the carnage, to where Banesaw kneeled. He forced himself up under the power of muscle alone. He lifted his chainsaw. Ruby's last rounds deflected from the saw, and then he dropped it across Yang's shoulder. Ruby and Crescent screamed. Weiss couldn't move. The blood spray forever soiled her memories. Yang fell limp. Banesaw kept the arm when it separated, and with a mighty toss, made it land at Weiss' feet. She staggered backwards. And when she looked to him again, he was pointing at her. The terror overwhelmed her. She puked. It wasn't a doubling over or retching like she'd had before. The contents of her stomach politely consolidated, leapt up her throat and sprayed onto the floor.

She turned and ran. She didn't have her aura, let alone a weapon. She didn't even belong here. She wasn't from Vale. She was a Schnee. She belonged in a castle with Nival and Schwarz and Winter and Apple. Her excuses ran out at the rear exit. She slipped on gore and fell facedown on a pile of parts. Team Foxfire. Every one of them had been butchered silently. She heard a metallic clicking, and recognized Blake's weapon transforming. She looked up. But there, instead of Blake, was another faunus, another cat with a Ballistic Chain Scythe and a long list of kills.

Amethyst smiled at Weiss. "Sorry, I'm lost. Do you know how to get to Ozpin's office from here?"

Weiss scrambled to her feet and backpedaled. The assassin lunged, then jerked back against the wall, perforations dissolving her to a mess.

Coco wound down her chain cannon and called, "Weiss?"

"I'm alive!"

"Pick something up and stay alive! We need this hall covered!" Coco left her there for the front. Weiss looked at the ground. She'd watched Blake use a BCS for almost two years. She picked one of the pistols off of her assassin and checked the magazine. Twenty rounds. Every fifth was Aura Piercing, bearing her family's logo. She swore to never mint them again.

And then she looked down the hallway, outside, and had a second decision to make. She could run.

"Blake ran," she realized.

"So why shouldn't you?" followed logically.

She checked her shoulders. No one was watching; No one would know. She took a step towards survival, then hesitated. She would know. She had to look in the mirror some day and see the head of the Schnee Family. And she couldn't do that if she ran.

Her friends would all die if she left this position; And she couldn't face that mirror alone.

She wouldn't have the chance, if she was dead.

Motion caught her eye. Something black dribbled down the wall. Amethyst's last act, before death, had been Vandalism. She'd spray-painted "Salem Sees All." The words dripped over a hasty portrait.

A woman with skin like wild snow, eyes void like the night. She wore a crown of ash and embers. As the paint drooled, the portrait seemed to fix its gaze on Weiss. Then it leaned forward from the wall, and Weiss backpedaled.

Salem took a step into the room, and the darkness dripped from her, polluting the ground. Weiss pointed the BCS and pulled the trigger. The recoil overpowered her wrist, and bullets sprayed everywhere. She slipped on blood and fell.

The black queen stood over her, then loomed, leaning forward until her chill breath frosted against Weiss' cheek.

Her lips moved, but Weiss didn't hear her speak. The words were thoughts within her mind. "They chose this life, Weiss. They are huntresses. They were born to fight and die. But you are made from a nobler element. You were born to inherit Remnant. Run away now and nations will bow to you. You have seen the medical advances; Survive this night, and you will never die. You are a goddess. You do not need to justify anything you do here. There will be no one worthy to justify it to."

Weiss shook. Her heart raced to keep her warm. She shook her head. "I don't believe you!"

Salem turned and waved her cloak, washing away reality like watercolors, and replacing it with an image of the future.

Weiss saw herself standing in the Throne Room at Mantle. She placed the Mantle of the Snow Queen atop her head, then sat upon the throne. General Ironwood knelt, and his knights, the Agents of the Retinue, knelt with him. She held the globe in one hand, and the martial scepter in the other. Her eyes sparkled with majesty… And sorrow.

That Queen, that future her, turned a gaze imperial and ironclad to Weiss. She ordered, "This is your Destiny. Leave this world behind, abandon the dust with the dirt and let the dead bury themselves. You belong among the regal and the divine."

She couldn't.

She wouldn't.

This had been Apple's world.

This world was the Dust that the Schnees had dug their wealth from. This was the dust they lay buried in.

Weiss scrambled backwards and found her feet. From her new perspective, The Black Queen was solidified on the far wall. The image was just runny paint.

Weiss was alone again. She heard footsteps. Two faunus rushed into the hallway with swords raised. She sprayed bullets until they fell. The BCS clicked empty, and she dropped it.

Searching the floor, she found Team Foxfire's ammo crate. She took up a freeze cabochon in her hand.

Another three faunus ran in. She threw the crystal and cast them in ice. This wouldn't keep working. Next there would be five, or fifty.

She needed to summon help. She felt a tingle crawling across her skin- her aural shield reforming. And she realized, she needed to _summon_ help.

Her father could do it. Winter could do it. She knew she would be able to eventually. Eventually had to be now.

Weiss held her hand out to the floor and formed a glyph. She felt the chill reaching back from another realm. She focused. She strained. More footsteps interrupted her. She abandoned the glyph for another crystal and tossed it, dousing the hallway in flames.

Faunus screamed. Someone wandered towards her from the blaze, but took only a few steps, and then sank to the ground. Wind and rain dispersed the fire.

She needed to try again. She had to practice as Winter had told her to. She imagined her sister pacing around her and instructing in a stern voice.

"Breathe. Let thoughts come and go without stealing your attention. Use a mnemonic for what you're bringing into this world. Try to start with something you're familiar with. Something inanimate. Imagine a bar of chocolate. Now pick a memory, the flavor. And a mnemonic, like the sound of this wrapper crinkling in my hand."

More footsteps. Heavier. And the revving of a chainsaw. A weapon. She knew her rapier, Myrtenaster. She imagined its handle in her hand, then felt its weight suddenly. Her fingers closed around it, and she opened her eyes to see.

Banesaw stood at the mouth of the entryway. He revved his chainsaw again, amusing himself with her terror. He advanced, and adrenaline drove Weiss into a frenzy. She grabbed another crystal and blasted him with wind. He laughed. Lightning; He broke stride to grunt. The bolts arced around his aura. He charged. She was going to die, and summoning her weapon hadn't changed that.

He lunged, swiping down with the massive saw, and she hoped Mrytenaster's durasteel core would hold against the teeth. The sound was like a tiger roaring in her face.

Banesaw was laughing.

Wise consoled herself that she would soon be with her cousin- One way, or the other. She let the chainsaw's teeth drag her forward, then slid between Banesaw's legs and cartwheeled away.

She closed her eyes and began again. The memory was a stream of letters and playdates over the CCT. The mnemonic was a charm borne on her necklace. This was all she held dear. Because more than anyone, she wished for Apple to return to her side. She whispered her name like a prayer. The glyph formed behind her.

Banesaw lunged. The chainsaw gnashed. And its teeth stopped just before her nose, growling in frustration. She opened her eyes.

A rapier checked the saw- phantasmal, with two tiny ghost hands to hold it in place. Weiss sidestepped the attack. The Glyph stayed behind her shoulders, and so too did Apple's specter. Banesaw fell forward, but turned to address her. Now he looked scared.

Weiss lunged and swiped flesh from his face. Apple's rapier tore at his soul. Banesaw howled.

And hundreds more joined him. The faunus horde charged into the hallway, thinking they would kill a lone Schnee.

Weiss and Apple shrieked into the melee, their screams echoing and haunting their enemies last moments. The rapiers twanged and whistled as they cracked bones and flicked through skin. The revolver actions rattled as Weiss pirouetted up the pile of corpses. Blood splattered across Salem's image, painting her as a smiling debutant and blossoming as a rose in her hair.

Weiss's dress, once White, now seemed to ripple as the blood poured across it.

She sought her next target. But the faunus all lay still, and she stood atop them. She felt Apple's attention sweeping, swishing with her rapier, just as confused. But they'd won. They had held the line against the barbarian hordes. Behind Weiss was the Remnant. And she had risked her life, just as Apple had, to preserve it.

Salem had tempted her with Power, if only she would run.

But Weiss had stayed, and found something far greater than the power she craved. She had found the Will to Power. With it, she had found and claimed her place: on the wall between Civilization and all that threatened it.

Weiss shivered, adrenaline abandoning her. At her back, Apple kept the rapier ready for threats. Weiss turned to see her, but the glyph, and her cousin, remained always out of view, behind her shoulder blades. She could only reach backwards and- barely- feel Apple's tiny fingers interlocking with hers.

Her loneliness was cured in that moment.

For as long as she stood this post, she would never stand alone.


	70. Weiss Out

Cobalt and Steele stood on a hill overlooking Vale. They looked the other way with as much ammunition as they could spend before death. The swarm would not lose velocity as it passed through them. Remnant trembled. They'd never met a Grimm before, nor heard the inhuman whispers that haunt huntsmen forever. But they had doubted themselves before, and they had overcome those doubts.

Hell charged at them.

They did not glance to each other for approval. They had said their hellos and goodbyes every night for the whole of their deployment. What had begun as the coincidence of their enlistment was now a bond unbreakable even in death.

Hell rattled the ground from under them.

They did not step back. They did not run. In a moment, they would be accountable to the dead who had struggled before them.

Hell opened its maw to consume them.

They leaned in.

And Fate intervened. A white light descended from the heavens. Great wings of glory pierced the clouds and exploded in the faces of the swarm. The detonations of gravity crystals sparkled the charging monsters, and they tripped and turned on each other in confusion. The Angel of Light slowed before them, as if stopping to land and bless them. And then the gravity crystals wore off, and unceremoniously dropped a pod into the mud. The cover popped off, and a being cloaked in white stepped out. The Angel looked at them. The Angel looked at the swarm.

Then Agent Hikari Oni of the SRS lowered her hood and shouted, "Fuck!" And promptly sprinted past them.

Simultaneously, their rifles snapped open and dumped their spent Dust charges.

Together, they shouted, "Out!" and realized they'd done all they could. They turned and joined her, dumping their packs as they ran down hill. A missile from the fleet streaked overhead. The detonation was unlike any munition that had hurt their ears before. The light and flames expanded above and ahead of them. Dust leaped and swept away. By the grace of the hill they'd run down, that heat only singed their helmets. Caramelized dirt peaked and rolled down after them.

Hikari beat them to the fallback point and started the engine on a Warthog. Cobalt and Steele grabbed an ammo crate between them, jumped in with it, and turned to spray more at the coming Hell. Hikari made that horse gallop till the engine wheezed. They sped through Vale's gate as it closed, and she turned up Main Street, sped through the safe zone, and kept on towards Beacon.

Steele finally spoke up. He climbed forward and jumped into the passenger seat.

"Hikari! Where the fuck are you going?"

"Agent!"

"What?"

"You're in the Retinue now, Recruit! I own your ass! You call me Agent!"

"Agent, there's no one there! Beacon is abandoned! Swarm Malice is about to-"

She tore a scroll from her lapel and flipped it open in front of him. "Weiss Schnee's tracking device is in the tower."

Steele and Cobalt enjoyed the ride. They'd strained their muscles and sprained their tendons. Pain set in as adrenaline left them shaking. It was better than being dead. Steele stood in his seat as they approached.

He called out, "Two Paladins in the campus courtyard! I don't think they're friendly!"

Hikari steered them to the CCT's back side, out of sight, and slid to a stop where bodies barricaded the entrance. The hallway began in splatters of blood and body parts, like the mouth of some beast's cave.

Farther inwards, the gore intensified, bodies replacing the floor, then piling into a mound. Atop it stood a little Schnee, soaked in her own paint, her dress now dyed with faunus blood. She reached her hand behind her, to another Schnee, spectral and white.

The Warthog's engine rumbled. The soldiers stared.

Cobalt finally said, "What the fuck?"

Steele nodded, "Semblance bullshit."

"Spooky bullshit."

"Yeah."

Hikari stepped out of the car.

She asked, "Apple?"

The specter faded. Weiss stood alone. Hikari jogged into the building, to Weiss.

Steele turned to Cobalt. "Weird question: Are we dead? Did we die and not notice?"

"No. Hikari fell out of the sky and saved us." Cobalt tilted his head, then held his chin and considered his own words. "You know, when I say it like that…"

"Right?"

Hikari pulled a sapper stick from her uniform and zapped Weiss limp. Cobalt and Steele squinted. They didn't' dare protest when she flopped Weiss into the bed and climbed back into the driver's seat. She handed her scroll to Steele. "Navigate."

"Where are we going?"

"Vale International."

"The airport?"

Hikari turned to Cobalt and tossed him a pair of handcuffs. "Restrain her."  
The tires spun out, then gripped and pulled them out of the area. As they left, Cobalt watched the courtyard battle and noted, "It looks like the Fang are advancing into the tower. Who were they fighting?"

"The students," Steele guessed.

Cobalt shook his head. "Shit. They're as dumb as us."

Weiss stirred. She gasped and sat up. She tested her cuffs, then hurt herself trying to break them.

She glared at Cobalt. "I know you!"

Cobalt smiled. "Steele, she remembers us!"

"You're one of Winter's Soldiers!"

"Oh."

"You people are the worst thing that ever happened to my family! I hope you all die!"

She tried to turn and face Hikari. She couldn't.

"Hikari! Hikari, do you hear me? I hate you! Take me back to my friends!"

Cobalt waved, trying to get her attention.

"Hey. Hey, Weiss? Weiss? Miss Schnee? We're not Winter Soldiers."

"Technically…" Steele corrected.

"Right, but we're Cobalt and Steele. From field day. Remember us?"

Weiss sneered at him. Then she remembered. Her sneer faded. She tried to fake a smile, but the expression was soured now by her sorrows and furies.

"Cobalt?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh."

She turned to shout at Hikari. "Hikari! What happened to the rest of Winter's soldiers?"

Hikari swerved into the airport, skipped the road, smashed the fence, and sped onto the tarmac. It wasn't hard to find a Schnee hangar. They skidded to a stop beside an executive jet.

Weiss hopped from the truck and stood before Hikari could force her.

The Agent pointed to Cobalt. "Recruit. Open the door. And you, find me a crew chief."

Weiss interrupted, "This hangar is reserved for emergency flights. The plane is fueled and ready at all times."

They climbed aboard quickly. Hikari offered, "Miss Schnee. Your cuffs."

Weiss held them out and sighed, "Finally. Thank you."

Hikari unclasped one, then secured it to a seat.

Weiss snapped, "Hey!"

Hikari gripped her chin and directed her face, for full attention. She shook her head. "You don't get to jump this time."

Weiss didn't understand. Hikari released her and turned to Steele.

He asked, "Can you fly?"

Hikari snapped, "It's a Schnee plane. It flies itself. You just tell the robot pilot where to go."

Cobalt smiled and jinxed everything. "We're all going home?"

Hikari scowled. "There are planes lined up along the whole taxiway. They want out of here, too. And I don't think they'll give up their place in line."

They hesitated, realizing her point. Not everyone was making it out tonight. Not them. Not unless something changed. Steele ran to the cockpit and talked to the hologram there. Hikari took off her dog tags. She pulled Winter's cameo from the chain, and placed it in her breast pocket. The rest of the chain bore the tags of her and every friend she'd ever had.

She handed them to Weiss. "Take care of these."

Then to Steele. "Recruit. Get in the pilot's seat."

"I can't fly."

"That robot isn't going to cut in line. You will. And then you'll take off."

Cobalt looked worried. "We're going to cut?"

She grabbed his collar. "Listen, dipshit. The whole world's about to fall on Vale. If only one plane makes it out tonight, it's going to be this one!"

She released him, ran down the stairs, and flipped them up.

Steele swallowed and mouthed, "shitshitshit" as he climbed into the hologram's place and took the controls. Over their headset, Hikari shouted, "I pulled your chalks! Make this plane move, Recruit!"

Steele made a move. The plane jerked, knocking Cobalt prone. He scrambled back to his feet and checked on Weiss.

She'd let her hair down. With her free hand and a hair pin, she was trying to pick her handcuffs. He swiped the hairpin and strapped himself into a seat. Out the window, he saw Hikari climbing into the warthog and loading her rifle. She sped off past them, to the taxiway.

Steele got the plane turned around and pointed toward the runway. Their drive off the taxiway and through the grass was bumpy and bad.

Their radio lit up with anger. "Schnee Luxury Cruiser! Maintain order! You do not have takeoff clearance!"

Hikari answered for them. "Tower, be advised, Schnee Luxury Cruiser has priority. Anyone who disagrees will be fired upon."

"Identify yourself!"

"I'm the Warthog with the laser canon holding up your taxi line. Reference the burning 757."

The plane nearest them had a sudden problem involving its wing and munitions. The liquid dust in its tanks ignited, and the point was made. Steele pointed them down the runway. He had a basic grasp of throttle and flaps. That was all they needed.


	71. The Moment

A young maiden walked through the Forest of Forever Falls. She'd been alone for several days, separated from her sisters. But she had a trail. And as the day waned into evening, the trail lead her to them. An old shack stood in a clearing. The roof tiles were new, the garden looked freshly tilled, and a table sat ready for a feast. Her sisters stood around it, laughing and celebrating with an elderly stranger.

The maiden stopped at the table's end and waited for them to notice her.

She waved at her sisters.

Spring giggled.

Summer put her hands on her hips and hummed, "Took your time."

Winter, quietly, only nodded hello and smiled.

The Old Man sat at the table's head. He looked overjoyed. He raised his hands to the maiden. "Another one! Please, tell me who you are!"

The maiden sighed and wiped sweat from her brow. "My name is Fall. I am on a Journey, and am here to meet my sisters. And you, Sir?"

The Old Man clutched his hands to his heart. "Me?"

Spring, Summer, and Winter all leaned forward, awaiting his answer. Fall laughed. Typical of them to not even ask.

The Old Man hesitated. "Well, I am but an old hermit. I have lived in these woods alone for centuries, and I am afraid that my story is not very interesting, as I have no one to love and nothing to my name."

Fall blinked at that. She looked at his house. She looked at his garden. She looked at his bountiful meal. She cocked her head. "But, Sir. Do you not see? You have so much."

And then she realized, "Did my sisters do this?"

They nodded. The old man shed a tear.

Fall shuffled her feet, embarrassed. "Uh… How long have you guys been waiting here?"

"Just a day," Summer chimed.

"Two," Spring corrected.

Winter shook her head, then held up three fingers.

The old man cheered. "And what a wonderful three days! But, please, tell me, girls. Why me? Why did the four of you choose to open my eyes? To share with me your gifts? Why am I so special?"

Winter cringed. Spring squinted. Summer scratched her head.

Fall leaned to him. "I beg your pardon, Sir. But my sisters did not do these things for you because you are special. We do what we can for _everyone_ because we are able."

"I…" The Old Man didn't understand. Or he did, but couldn't believe it. A tear trickled from each eye. He blinked. He stood from his table. And as he stood, the years flew from him. Wrinkles unwound, his clothes resewed, and the dull, gray scarf around his neck regained its emerald luster. His silver hair sorted and arranged itself. His suit buttoned.

And suddenly, Fall was face-to-face with a man richer in power and attire than any chief from any tribe she had ever heard of. That, and he'd used sorcery. She took a step back, to run.

Spring took a step forward and poked him. "Are you a wizard?"

"I am."

He held aloft a hand. In it, a little light glimmered and pulsed. It leaped at Fall, into her chest. And again, it pierced Spring, Summer, and Winter.

Fall examined herself. She wasn't dead. Nothing had happened. She looked at her sisters. They all seemed bewildered, but unharmed.

And the wizard said, "Take this gift. And know now that you are able to do so much more."

* * *

A young maiden walked in the woods. Her glass armor sparkled in the sunlight. Her leather padding creaked as she moved. Beside her, a younger maiden nervously strummed her bow.

The elder sighed, "Relax."

The younger worried, "But there are Grimm out here."

"Not nearby. The birds are still chirping."

They found an abandoned shack. The roof had caved in, and an ancient table had rotted in half.

The elder said. "Let's stop here. That's about eighty paces. Try and hit the boards over that window."

The younger nodded. "Thanks for helping me, Emerald."

Emerald patted her recruit's shoulder. "Athena says we're passing through the big valley tomorrow. There are a lot of monsters down there. I just want to make sure you've been practicing. Now show me."

The recruit drew her bow, then lined up her shot. The arrow struck true.

She jumped for joy. "Yes!"

Emerald smiled and nodded. "We'll make a warrior of you yet, Cinder. You might even take the blood oath with Athena."

A shout came from the house. Another young woman with glass armor walked out the door and held out her hands in objection.

Cinder gasped. "Oh no!"

Emerald waved. "Sorry, Raven!"

* * *

A young maiden stepped out of an elevator, into the office of Headmaster Ozpin. The Emerald City of Vale twinkled in the clear day. Dimly, in the distant mountains, she could see the scaffolds building the tower in Mountain Glenn. Ozpin held his hands out.

"Welcome! Have a seat, Raven."

She didn't sit. She didn't smile. She was wise beyond her years. "My mother was a fortune teller. The bones already told me why I'm here, Headmaster. Just give me the glove."

Ozpin's smile slid away like scenery on a stage. He pulled a white glove from his desk and threw it to her. "Your competitor in the final round is the Winter Maiden. After the match, kill her. And don't get caught."

Raven looked down into her hands. The glove bore the sigil of an eye. The eye blinked at her. She looked at Ozpin.

"The _Winter_ Maiden?"

"Yes. Is something wrong?"

"The bones said I was the Fall Maiden."

Ozpin squinted at her. "It's superstition, Raven. Don't put your faith in it."

She felt the glove. She swallowed. "And if I do get caught?"

Ozpin sipped his coffee. "You always wanted a life on the range. Either way, you keep these powers away from those who would do evil."

* * *

A young Maiden stepped from an elevator, into the offices atop the CCT in Mountain Glenn. She reached up and threw lightning from her hands. A huntress on the rooftop shrieked in fear. Fell winds howled in the distance. She opened a locket and thought fondly of her daughter, Blake.

Around them, Mountain Glenn wailed with alarms and despair.

* * *

A young Maiden sat at a grungy table in a grungy apartment.

Across from her, Roman Torchwick held up a piece of candy. "The game goes like this: I will try to get you to nod, or thumbs up, or gesture in the affirmative. If you don't do that after a whole hour, you get the candy."

* * *

A young maiden roused from sleep. She was cold. Her last sentient moments returned to her: a fight, a glove, a black creature clawing through her face. Her vision focused. She was in a coffin with a window. Needles connected tubes to her veins. She leaned to the window. She couldn't. Something tugged at her neck. Her arms were numb and clumsy. Slowly, she reached up to fumble and feel. A cable trailed from the coffin's bottom to a clasp on her spine.

Her heart quickened. She couldn't think. Her breaths frosted before her. She couldn't understand why this was happening. Her hands traversed her torso: pristine, then felt the many tubes managing her blood flow. Her neck was a mess of those tubes. And above it, her face was unfamiliar. She couldn't see from her right side. She didn't have a right eye. She didn't have a right face. She remembered the black bug, its clicking and chewing and clawing. Her fingers found the cavern where her skull was mangled.

The heart monitor increased its beeping.

Out the window, she saw silver hair and a green scarf: Ozpin. She was safe, probably in a hospital. Ozpin would know what to do.

Beside him, a young girl in red hugged herself and followed. A girl just like Amber had been. A girl, she realized, who would replace her. She put a hand on the window.

Her voice gurgled and slurred. She steadied herself, and mustered her senses.

"Don't. Do. This." She formed a fist, and made a quiet thud against the glass.

* * *

A young maiden stopped before Amber's cryopod. She trembled. She heard the long gone whispers of those before her. She felt their sorrows and struggles. And then, like a wave, they overcame her. She turned to Glynda, as if the professor's face could anchor her to the moment.

She asked, "Who am I? Where am I?"

Ozpin raised an eyebrow.

Jaune Arc put a hand on her shoulder. "Pyrrha? What's wrong?"

Pyrrha didn't recognize him. She didn't recognize her name. Her panic escalated.

She was in a forest, teaching Cinder to shoot a bow.

She was in Mountain Glenn, kneeling before Amber and whispering, "It's a cycle, like the changing of the seasons."

She was meeting her sisters at a bountiful feast.

She was thudding her hands against a glass prison.

She repeated, "Who am I?!"

Glynda Goodwitch's pupils dilated. She turned to the elevator, realizing, "Ozpin! She's coming!"

"Quickly, then." Ozpin grabbed Pyrrha's shoulders and guided her to another pod. Pyrrha followed. She recognized the Old Man, the Wizard. He showed her where to lay down. She trusted him. He tucked her hands in as he closed the case.

He said, "Relax, Pyrrha. This is your Destiny."

* * *

A young maiden stood beside Emerald Sustrai in the CCT foyer. Now she was the master, and Emerald was the student.

Adam Taurus yelled over a loud speaker. Weiss Schnee crouched at an ammo pile beside them. Weiss recognized them. Her eyes went wide. Emerald held out her hand, and Weiss blinked in confusion.

Emerald sighed. "She can't see us." Then, turning back to Cinder, "Alright. You're going down?"

Cinder nodded.

Emerald frowned. "How do you know Amber's down there? How'd you find her?"

Cinder smiled. She reached out and cradled Emerald's cheek. "The same way I found you. The same way Raven found me."

Emerald put a hand on her hip. "I'd love to be part of the club."

Cinder released her. "You are. Just give it a second."

"Give what a-"

They were Emerald Sustrai.

They were Raven Branwen.

They were a tragedy three-thousand years in the making.

They were every tragedy that the Fall Maiden had seen.

She was Cinder Fall, bracing herself against the wall of the elevator. Descending. She could no longer bear it. She wept blood. She struggled to be in that elevator, to be Cinder Fall notching an arrow and preparing to kill Amber. But she was also Amber. She was every sister who objected to this heinous act.

She tried to focus on her reflection in the elevator door. Red rivers poured down her body. She notched the arrow. By suffering alone, she had lived three-thousand years. By suffering alone, she would live a moment longer.

She felt Emerald beside her, holding her hand, her thousands of questions.

Cinder whispered into the chaos. "I've been here the whole time, Emerald. In every migration, I have been by your side. I want you to know… It has meant everything to me, to be your sister. I will wait for you by the river."

She raised her bow. Pyrrha and Amber pushed it away. Raven and Emerald pushed back.

Pyrrha and Amber screamed. Their souls tore and merged in Ozpin's horrible machine. The full realization of his evils reached them all. And suddenly, it didn't matter who had the bow. Because there was only one way to spare Pyrrha from this tragedy.

The doors parted.

A young maiden released her arrow. It sang as it flew, carried on the winds of Fate, whistling in Jaune's ear as it slipped past him, then chiming as it cracked glass and pierced a heart.

Amber coughed. Blood painted the window of her coffin.

And she cried a single tear, joy overwhelming her that this madness might finally be over.

Pyrrha Nikkos focused her semblance. Magnetism warped, then tore the metal from around her. She leaped from the case and her weapons flew to her hands.

Jaune had already drawn _Crocea Mors_ and raised his shield to Cinder. Pyrrha reached his side and added her shield.

Glynda Goodwitch held out a hand. "Pyrrha! Jaune! Stop!"

Ozpin had yet to react. He stayed facing Amber, her bloodied coffin. Pyrrha glanced to him for instructions. He looked worried. Pyrrha felt it.

The woman in the elevator was not the Cinder she knew. She was slick with blood and fury. She took two steps forward, both jerky and pained. The lights popped and fizzled above her, casting darkness on that end of the archive. But her eyes glowed brighter than any huntress'.

Flames poured from that glow and dripped molten gold, spreading and pooling and igniting bannisters, and the room was lit again.

Cinder stood taller, breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and took her last mortal step- into the air. She was hovering.

Glynda tensed. Jaune and Pyrrha took a step back together.

The Fall Maiden hovered toward them, her blood burning away, all stress and pain leaving her features, until she arrived at them as a youthful and pristine woman.

She looked at Pyrrha Nikkos, and gestured to the elevator. "Walk away. Live your life."

Glynda agreed, "Pyrrha. Go. Now! Jaune, make her move!"

Jaune tapped her shoulder, and Pyrrha ran on shaking legs.

Cinder did not watch them pass. She looked at Glynda Goodwitch. With these new eyes, she recognized what had always been before her.

Still hovering, she bowed. "Hello, Spring."

Glynda raised her wand.

Ozpin finally turned. He reached toward Glynda. "Wait! If you strike her, Ragnarok begins!"

"Do it," Cinder goaded. "It doesn't matter to me, as long as The Wizard dies."

Ozpin was the voice of reason. "Keep Pyrrha safe. I'll be fine, Glynda."

Goodwitch swallowed. She took tentative steps around Cinder, then leaped to the elevator with supernatural grace. The doors closed, and Cinder turned back to the Old Man.

He'd adopted a new poise- to hide his fear. Or maybe the fear had been an act. He stood tall and smug, then taller as he took his weight off his cane.

A coy smile spread on his lips, and he chuckled. "I remember you, now. The one that got away. I worried about you for two-hundred years. And then I realized that you must be dead."

Cinder didn't answer.

"But you aren't," he noted. "So how have you defeated time? I destroyed the elixir and everyone who can make it, you aren't industrious enough to manipulate time, and Raven's method has a certain visibility to it."

Cinder had cleaned herself of blood. Her flames wafted up the walls. She felt the new powers adjusting to her and flowing through the world at large. But she didn't answer.

Ozpin shrugged. "I don't suppose it matters. Answer me this, instead: You have had three-thousand years to plot your revenge. Why throw it away like this? You have one quarter of the magic in this room, and I have the other three."

Cinder scowled. "She was right about you. Such arrogance."

"Athena?"

"Salem."

Ozpin's brow levelled. "I see. I won't deny it: We all have flaws. I, in hubris, believed that I could elevate humanity. You, twisted by fury, have elected to be the agent Chaos and Destruction. Now are we fighting, or not?"

"Not yet."

Ozpin smirked. "Then when?"

Reality opened behind him. And the Winter Maiden, Raven Branwen, stepped into the room. Her Grimm eyes glowed. Atop her bone helmet, she wore the Mantle of the Snow Queen. Frost accumulated in her presence. She drew her blade.

Cinder smiled. "Now."


	72. Penitent Tangent

A young Captain named James Ironwood opened his eyes. Cold cursed him. Half his body lay numb and limp. He tried to stand, but found himself cocooned in snow. His whole world existed within arm's reach. The wail of Chernobyl's reactor sirens reverberated through him. The whispers of the Goliath Malice filled his head. Its footfalls shook the permafrost. Its trumpet echoed until it cackled like thunder.

He considered calling for help. Only Grimm would answer. Everyone in Chernobyl had perished. The loneliness bit harder than the cold.

But he'd trained for this. He spit. It arced to his left. So he knew up from down. With one good hand, he reached up and scraped a hole in the fresh powder. The night sky held no stars.

His hand found a surface above him, and lifted himself from the hole. Looking down, he realized that the snow was ash. Looking around him, he saw that he'd grabbed the wreckage of an air transport. Inside, a soldier of the Retinue lay bleeding and wheezing. She looked at the sky, then smirked and died. She wore the patch of the Black Suns.

James looked up. A dark circle writhed against the firmament, its tendrils waving in a spectral halo, eclipsing the shattered moon- like a Black Sun, burning in the night.

The ground thumped. Malice trumpeted. The call reverberated in his chest. Sirens wailed. He could only move one good arm.

He searched his right arm for injuries. He didn't have a right arm. He had a cybernetic implant. He pulled off his glove and looked at the flaccid machinery weighing him down. The whole right half of his body had been replaced. He felt the lack of symmetry all the way into his skull, and finally a small square on his forehead where his flesh didn't cover the metal.

He couldn't afford to panic. Twenty klicks west of him was an outpost outside of Chernobyl's valley. The uranium in those mountains would block whatever hellish transformation the dust reactor had caused. He reached into his jacket and found the totem that would carry him there: A photograph of Glynda Goodwitch. An hour ago, sitting in his barrack, it had been smooth and pristine. It looked crumpled and faded now, as if by decades.

He needed to orient before the Grimm found him. He dragged himself out of the aircraft. Skyscrapers surrounded him. He wasn't in Chernobyl. Maybe he was in Hell. Hell had a West Hill Street. So he crawled. Ashes rained from the sky. Plasma fire bolted like lightning in the clouds.

Behind him, the thumping footfalls of the goliath turned his way.

He rolled over to look. What he'd mistaken for a goliath was just as intimidating: A massive mecha larger than any Paladin, and bearing the name "Crusader" across its chest. Where it stood, the asphalt sank. Around and about it, steel automatons contorted their forms and wept as mourners at a funeral. Their heads bore no faces. Their bodies glimmered like polished skeletons in the darkness.

They wailed, chanting a name: "Ciel! Ciel!"

As the procession passed him, a single construct stopped at his feet. The robot lit a blue, holographic plane over its featureless faceplate. The light simulated a more pleasant interface, an 8-bit representation of a little girl.

She asked, "What do you think of me now, General Ironwood?"

James looked at his lapels, and saw that rank. He drew his revolver. The automaton held out a hand, seizing the weapon with magnetism.

Plan B: James tried to crawl away.

He shouted, "Who are you?!"

The automaton followed him. The little girl's voice answered. "Project Elysium. Copper Soleil. Penny Polendina. Can't you recognize your own work, General? Or… Oh. You've forgotten."

The automaton reached out its hand. The magnetism wracked James' prosthetic half. His head ached. He felt his brain spasm in his skull. An external memory unit clicked online, returning his memories.

He heard a gavel. He was ordered to look into the courtroom's media camera. Rough hands ripped his rank from his lapels.

He stood at a door in Vale. Looking down made him question his identity. He wasn't used to wearing a civilian suit, nor to the prosthetic hand. He winced at the crushed bouquet. He knocked on the door. Glynda Goodwitch opened it. She scowled and closed it.

The photograph in his hand aged, tears staining it, wrinkles and neglect cutting white lines through the vibrant colors of her face.

He was laying in bed, naked and cold. He'd left the window open and loathed himself too much to get warm. His head pounded. The pounding was on his door.

He opened it, and Captain Gray stuffed a letter in his hand. "You've been reinstated. Thank our friend in the retinue."

James swigged from a bottle of bourbon. "I'm never setting foot in a mining colony again. I'm burning this." He tried to close the door.

His friend pushed into the room and took back the letter. "Then I'll hang onto it. Gods DAMN! This place stinks! Listen, James. You need to sober up, shave, and meet me at Number Ten Axiom at Null-eight-hundred."

"I said I won't-"

"It's not a colony. You work at the state department now."

Gray turned to leave. On his way out, he spotted a revolver on the counter, holding a single bullet. He seized it. "See you in the morning, James."

James sat in an office and signed his name with the prosthetic hand. The calligraphy was his best ever.

Across the desk, Noir Soleil nodded his thanks. "Project Elysium will change the world, Ironwood. You've become a part of something great."

The Elysian Knights terrified him. They terrified everyone. And when Penny first opened her eyes and addressed him, he felt a disgust on par with his wonder. They'd torn a ghost from its vessel and placed it in a machine. They were tampering in the divine toolshed. And there were no gods left to forgive them. He reminded himself of the countless lives this would save.

His headache subsided.

James sat up on West Hill Street in Vale. Both arms worked. He looked at the Elysian Knight before him. His toes and fingers flexed. His tears flowed.

Penny's 8-bit image saluted. Her voice carried the playful, childlike tone he'd given it. "Here I am, General! Com-bat ready!"

James looked at Crusader and its knights, wailing toward the tower like a skeleton parade. He looked at the aircraft he'd crawled out of, remembered the Retinue starting a coup, Weiss Schnee glyphing them all out of the sky, the crash.

He looked at the knight before him. "Penny. Sitrep."

"It's a great day to be a robot, General! My father imagined a _Deus ex Machina_. But even he could not imagine the vision I have for humanity! My sensors span the whole of Remnant, and my thoughts are informed by every human desire communicated across the CCT! With all of Remnant's Dust and Manpower unified under my control, and with the powers of the Four Maidens working together, my vision can be made real! I anticipate with Ninety-Eight percent certainty that an era of prosperity begins tonight!"

Explosions echoed in the skyscrapers. James looked up. _Woglinde_ 's batteries pop, pop, popped and cracked the sky. The whole ship detonated, and metal chunks rained down with the ash.

James sighed. "I meant the battle."

"I always bet on the side of humanity, General. In fact, I have devised a plan for victory that only requires killing three more people. Project Elysium was about saving lives, after all. The first is Cinder Fall. I recently discovered that she is not as nice as I thought. I never would have helped her fake those identifications if I knew what she planned. In hindsight, it _was_ suspicious when she told me to keep her identity secret. The second person-"

James tried to stand. His organic leg wouldn't move. He looked at the knight and interrupted. "Help me up, Penny."

Her icon flickered to a demure and nervous pose. Her voice dropped to a monotone. "I'm sorry, General. I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Please listen, General. I believe my message is very important. The second person is Pyrrha Nikkos."

"What?!" He tried to stand again. The Knight grabbed his shoulder and held him down.

"I know, General. Pyrrha is perfectly innocent. But as they say in the Retinue, 'You can't make an omelet without killing some faunus.'"

He tried to slap the knight's hand away. It didn't budge. He'd forgotten that these beasts were stronger than mere men. "Penny, wait. There was a virus in the CCT. It might be affecting the way you think."

"Oh no! Can you give me more information, General?"

"The executable is called Ashes One Ashes."

Penny's icon flickered, a tilted head, a question mark. "That's not a logic virus, General. I wrote that program alongside Ashes Two Ashes. Who else would have sufficient knowledge of my father's systems?"

Ironwood grimaced at the hindsight. "Penny, I don't think we should kill Pyrrha Nikkos. There are things you don't know."

"You are mistaken, General. I know all that you know and more. You hid a backup of your memories on the CCT. That was not very clever of you. Someone was bound to discover it there, and it has quite a lot of classified information. Believe me: I know all about the maidens. Pyrrha Nikkos must die tonight. And if I understand correctly, she _will_ in the Fatalist sense. I'm sorry, but I don't have time to explain the logic in full. I have to tell you about the rest of the plan."

James looked into the Elysian Knight's hand, where it gripped his weapon.

He reached for it. "If we're killing Cinder Fall, I'll need my weapon."

The Knight held it away. "Don't worry, General. I have that under control. Pay attention to what I'm saying, please. It is very important to the success of the plan that you memorize what I am saying."

James had enough wits to understand his situation. He had enough aura to run a few paces before the Knight shot him dead, or enough to wrestle with a machine he knew was stronger. He felt the photograph in his human hand, Glynda's face smiling for him. He wanted to see her smile at him one more time.

He swallowed and nodded. "Alright, Penny. Go ahead."

"Thank you, General. At first, my plan was just to stay in Vale with my friend Ruby Rose. The plan required money. So I assisted a criminal named Roman Torchwick. In turn, he paid me."

"You helped Roman steal the Dust?!"

"I thought he was selling paintings. It wasn't until tonight that I knew better."

Ironwood's hand found a loose brick. It would shatter against an Elysium Knight's armor. He checked his shoulders. No cover or weapons in any direction.

Penny rambled on. "The plan got a lot more complex over time, especially where it overlaps with everyone else's plans. So when I was disassembled on stage, the Agents of the Black Sun received orders to kill the Schnee Family, the Council of Atlas, you, all of the StratCom chiefs, and an exhaustive list of politicians key to the social stratification between Huntsmen and Commoners. All but three Agents have reported overwhelming success. This will prepare the world for the end of the Age of Huntsmen, and for the coming Age of Commoners."

The Knight pointed to the Black Sun. Penny's icon flickered to the same pose. "And not a second too soon!"

Ironwood gaped. "That's a lot more than three people, Penny!"

"You're not listening closely enough, General. I said I only need to kill three _more_ people. Which brings me to the third person."

A chill gripped James' spine and splintered across his ribs. Ash touched his throat. He shivered in the unnatural cold. He wondered if all humanity would die this way, cowering before his creations.

Penny pointed. "You, General."

A long silence later, James demanded, "I think I deserve an explanation."

"You helped my father torture Blake Belladonna."

"Like hell! Whoever told you that is lying!"

Penny's icon flickered to a thinking pose. "This is very strange, General. Are you sure you don't remember that? I see it here in your backup. I am very certain that the memory is genuine."

"I did _everything_ that I could to stop him! YOU'RE LYING!"

Her icon flickered, hands on her hips. "The sky is Orange. Hic!" The Knight hiccupped with her.

"Water is dry. Hic! Oxygen is not flammable. Hic! You tortured Blake Belladonna."

She paused, the silence proving her point. "I still haven't removed the Geppetto Protocol, General. You know I'm not lying."

"Bullshit!"

Penny's image crossed her arms. "Hmm. A person is rightly described as a stream of consciousness. It would not be ethical of me to execute a person whose crimes are not in their memories. You have to remember first."

The Knight holstered the stolen revolver, then gripped James by the exposed metal in his forehead. The electromagnet blinded him with pain.

Captain James Ironwood stood in a prefabbed room. He was cold. His hands gripped Blake Belladonna's tiny shoulders. At the room's center, Noir Soleil sat in a chair, Nightshade's bloodied face in his lap. He was chanting. But the chant was unintelligible. James' mind focused, and he understood, "Ironwood. Iron-wood. IRONWOOD!"

James swallowed, tried not to puke. "Agent?"

Noir enunciated, "It's just a faunus. Bring the child here."

And to his eternal horror, he did.

The Elysian Knight had released him from its grip, but had bound him to his sins.

He couldn't cry; He'd run dry of tears. His white uniform, smeared in ash, was the same shade of black as any Agent of the Retinue.

Quavering, he asked, "Penny? After me… You're sure there will be peace?"

"I have never been surer of anything, General."

James sniffed, but kept a stiff upper lip. Any sign of distress would be like a beggar asking for far too much. He deserved no pity. He was all that he condemned.

He ordered, "Do it, Penny. I trust you."

"I will, General. But first, I have a mission for you. Father made me promise to take care of my sister. So I had her assigned to me as a body guard. But Ciel died making this plan come true. I was not a very good sister in the end. When you reach the afterlife, tell her that she did everything just like she was supposed to. Tell her that everything is going to be okay, and that I love her."

He nodded. "I will."

The knight pointed Ironwood's revolver at him.

Penny's image bowed. "Goodbye, General."

A scythe halved the Knight through its batteries. It collapsed.

Qrow Branwen stood over him, smirking. "You know…"

James scowled.

Qrow scratched his beard. "I always thought I'd be the one taking you out. Not saving you."

James grabbed his weapon and holstered it. "I'm beyond saving."

Branwen pulled him to his feet, grumbling, "Well the world isn't. Glynda and Oz need our help at the tower."

He gestured over his shoulder. A truck skidded to a stop beside them. The mounted laser canon wobbled on the back.

Agent Hikari patted the passenger seat. "Need a ride, General?"

James interrupted that thought. "You were right about the Elysian Knights, Qrow. We have to stop Penny."

Qrow swigged from his whiskey flask. "Yeah, well her tyranny's identical to yours and I don't' really care about Atlas' internal politics. That and all of your officers are dead. You need to get to the safe zone and take command."

He offered James his whiskey. James took it; Gray wasn't alive to stop him.

He swigged. "This make us friends, Qrow?"

Qrow shrugged. "I'll take anybody over a Grimm tonight."


	73. Scarlatina

Just as rain follows the plow, a spray of blood followed bullets into the CCT's entryway. Velvet Scarlatina ducked tighter into cover and clutched her toolbox to her chest. Fox returned fire from his BCS.

Yatsuhashi shouted, "They're inside!"

Ruby Rose cowered, headphones on, hood up, screaming. She'd just seen her sister's arm severed. She had an excuse.

Velvet didn't. But she couldn't muster from that realization into the fight. She'd never been a fighter. In more ways than she cared to admit, she was like Weiss. She peeked out from cover.

Coco's minigun echoed through the foyer. The muzzle flashes drew sharp lines across her face. Corpses sandbagged her position at the entrance.

Velvet stood. Her legs wobbled beneath her. She managed a zig zag to Coco. Hesitation had saved her life. A Paladin turned her way. The laser canons sizzled the air where a braver Velvet would have been.

She made it to Coco's side. Faunus guns echoed throughout the campus.

Coco spotted Velvet. She shouted, "We can handle the infantry! You destroy the Paladins!"

Velvet activated the transform on her toolbox. Its faces collapsed and wound throughout clockwork and sliding mechanisms, rearranging into Remnant's most expensive camera. She raised it to her eye. The lens refracted aural energy like a prism, bringing reality into focus.

Spacetime warped around the Paladin's mass. The engines pulsed. Heatsinks glowed like sunrise at sea. An engineer had realized the armor system in a dream about a Goliath. Velvet snapped the picture into her mind. The dream blinded her like the flash of the camera. She staggered into Coco.

Adel glanced to her, hopeful. "Can you copy it?"

"It's really complex! I need more pictures!"

A wave of faunus charged, the rebel yell whooping from their throats. Coco swept her minigun over them, laying corpses like bricks. "Do it quick!"

Velvet snapped another. The main canon in the right arm had an insane network of feeders and gas power. Every single piece and its function asserted itself to her memory. Her ears rang.

When she could see again, she shouted to Coco, "I need more angles!"

"Go with Indigo! They're at the statue!" Adel nodded across the field.

Yatsuhashi laid his sword and aura into a great strike. The ground sprang up along the vector of his slice, raising a small wall of cover. Velvet sprinted to the Fort Castle memorial statue and ducked behind it with team NDGO. She glanced up at the image of General Legune, the self-branded "solution to the faunus question." She'd never imagined taking shelter under his image. NDGO's team leader, Nebula, scooted her way.

"What are you doing here?"

"I need pictures of the Paladin!"

Nebula shook her head in bewilderment, then peeked out and snapped off a shot from her crossbow.

Velvet peeked with her and triggered another image. The Paladin's electronic suite mapped out in her mind like a galaxy blinking on in the sky. Her nose bled. The flash drew the Paladin's attention.

Nebula shouted, "It's looking this way! Gayl! Move!"

One of her teammates reached out with her spear. A zephyr spawned below them, flinging Velvet and Nebula like ragdolls.

As they flew, the Paladin's cannon vaporized the statue and annihilated Nebula's team.

Velvet landed face down in a fountain. The water ran red and sticky. She'd bathed in blood. A rough hand grabbed her neck and dragged her into cover. Cardin Winchester propped her up behind his shield, deflecting small arms fire.

Nebula stayed kneeling in the blood, screaming.

Cardin smiled to Velvet. "Sorry I was an ass all year! I owed you that one!"

Velvet rose up to a crouch and wiped off her lens.

She grabbed Cardin's shoulder. "I need one more picture of the Paladin."

"Take it!"

"I need to be right up against it!"

Cardin shook his head. "We will die!"

"Our parents will be proud of this." She'd struck true there.

Oobleck had shown Velvet the footage of her mother in Mountain Glenn. She'd only found out later that Cardin's father died in the same unit.

Bullets snapped and skipped through the fountain like rocks.

Cardin nodded. "Fine! Stay behind my shield!"

"No! I'll cut us a path there. You draw their attention while I take the photo!"

She converted the camera to a toolbox, and pulled from it a developed image. In calmer days, she'd photographed every one of her classmates in action. She started with Ruby's scythe. The photograph burned in her hand, sacrificed to strange powers. A piece of her soul flowed from her body, materializing in her hands as a scythe. Her mind filled with Ruby's memories, every moment of practice and play.

She leaped forward, her feet landing where Ruby would place them, her scythe cutting a path red like roses.

A White Fang huntsman, uniformed and furious, jumped into melee range. Velvet dropped the scythe. It faded from existence, and she forgot how to even use it. She dodged two strikes, reached into her toolbox, and burned another photograph.

The soldier smirked. "You a dancing girl?" He lunged again.

Velvet put up her fists. Yang's Shotgun Gauntlets materialized over her hands. A farm-girl twang entered her accent. She smirked, "You have NO. I. DEA!"

Her feet shuffled like a boxer. She ducked one strike, weaved the second, and threw a cross. The faunus could dance, too. He dodged the strike, but not Cardin.

The bully golfed him away with his mace. His team pushed through the bodies and covered Velvet.

A Paladin turned its guns on them. Cardin jumped in and blocked, his aura projecting as brightly as a force field. 600 rounds per second ricocheted into the sky, but forced him back. Velvet ran laterally. She flicked her camera ready, found the moment, and leaped onto the Paladin.

She pressed her lens against the armor. At the lowest spectrum, she saw the pilot's aura faintly through the metal. The camera blinked. She had a picture of his every thought.

The hull electrified. She fell to the ground in convulsions.

Cardin pulled her back, team boxing her in for safety. The second Paladin turned on them, ammunition tearing them apart. Bones and blood rained over Cardin. He knelt low and braced his shield so that the canon fire ricocheted.

He shouted, "Velvet! Do it now!"

Velvet had a few seconds to make this all count. She put her faunus feet beneath her and leaped. With a little aura to assist, she soared into clear air and a good angle. She pulled her photos and scattered them to the spiritual winds.

Thunder boomed around her. A paladin, just as she imagined it, became real. The cockpit wrapped around her body, joysticks appearing in her hands, engine mid spool, heat already propagated through the sinks.

As a note of sentiment, she'd added a photograph of her mother to the console. She'd imagined a still from Apple's footage, when her mother smirked and said, "You'll make me proud." Those last moments in Mountain Glenn, she'd believed in something worth more than her life.

Velvet fell. Her gut lurched. She deployed her tank lance and let gravity guide her spear through the enemy's cockpit. The other Paladin fell limp. She tried to walk backwards. Her lance had lodged. It wouldn't retract.

The second Paladin took note of her predicament. A lance deployed from its arm, and it charged. Velvet tried to turn. She managed a wobble, and the lance passed through the cockpit over her head. It retracted, and her opponent backed up for a second attack.

Her controls wouldn't respond. Coco's minigun rattled against the other Paladin. Her friend was trying to save her. But the only power Coco had was to die first.

Velvet flicked on her speakers. "Coco! I've got this!"

Coco understood. Through her shades and stern expression, Velvet could see the acceptance. Remnant is a world of bloody evolution.

Coco shouted, "Make us proud!"

The Paladin charged. Velvet had one last option; a yellow-checkered guarantee of glory in battle. She looked at her mother's face, and placed her hand on the self-destruct.

A crunch interrupted her. The ground shook so hard that the tower swayed. The charging paladin was now a pancake under the foot of an even larger Mecha. Velvet looked up to a faceplate that read "Crusader."


	74. Sins of the Father

Penny roared. The sound began eight octaves below faunus hearing, waves so broad and forceful that her audience, ignorant and terrified, felt it in their guts. As it rose in pitch, their organs jiggled. Penny raised her foot. The paladin beneath her now stood inches tall, her ultra-massive footprint stamped upon its armor.

Everyone gaped at her.

Her growl reached the audible range, and she articulated, "Look at you, Faunus. Pathetic creatures of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal, machine?"

She spun up her canons.

Rockets swarmed from her thigh pods like angry hornets.

Shoulder-mounted flamers cast a net of fire over the plaza.

Her chain-canons made ether of the ground. The rockets detonated in the air.

Not a single faunus was injured as they fled.

Penny giggled at the simplicity of bluffing. Her giggle echoed over all of Vale.

Beneath her, Coco Adel staggered away and raised her minigun.

Neon Katt stopped her. "Wait! They're from the military!"

Ruby appeared in a burst of rose petals.

Penny swept her sensors over her tiny, red friend. Ruby's aura shined like a brilliant gem. Crusader's sensors couldn't fathom the phenomenon's complexity. As Penny's senses improved, Ruby continued to impress. An electron blade dangled from Ruby's skirt, a token taken from Penny's old body. Penny hoped it had served her friend well.

Ruby cupped her hands and shouted, "Did Penny send you?"

"It's me, Ruby."

"Penny, are you in the giant robot?"

"No, silly. I _am_ a giant robot."

Ruby's heart rate seemed strained. She'd been crying. Cortisol streaked her veins. She kept looking across the battlefield, searching for something.

Penny asked, "Are you alright, Ruby?"

Ruby did not look alright. She cried, "Penny, my sister got really hurt!"

Penny spotted Yang in an instant. She pointed a canon. "She's right there, Ruby. I'll have an Elysian Knight here soon with medical supplies."

She called EK-00393 to a dead sprint. The machine vaulted a building and rolled to their aid.

Penny turned to Coco. "Miss Adel. If I heard correctly over the radio, you are in charge here, right?"

Coco looked to her side. Cardin Winchester and Flynt Coal shrugged. Nebula Violette wore a pained frown, but didn't object.

Nora fired finger guns at her. "That's the boss girl!"

Ren mumbled, "Not appropriate, Nora."

Penny explained, "You should prepare for an imminent Grimm attack. My Elysian Knights will reinforce this position. Can you please direct me to Cinder Fall?"

She projected a hologram, for everyone to see.

Coco shrugged. "We haven't seen her."

Penny switched to the next hologram. "Then can you please point me to Pyrrha Nikkos?"

Coco shrugged. "Haven't seen her."

Penny's all-powerful eyes spotted the lie. She repeated, "I need to know where Pyrrha Nikkos is."

The elevator dinged. Penny swept her sensors through it, and had her answer.

The doors opened.

Glynda Goodwitch stepped out with her wand ready. Jaune came close behind, shield high.

And then came the woman of the hour.

Penny greeted, "Hello, Pyrrha Nikkos."

Pyrrha's looked up, then up at Crusader. She recognized the voice. Her mouth hung open.

Penny didn't know what a Maiden should look like, but Pyrrha didn't look like one.

She swept her sensors over the party. Glynda Goodwitch looked magical. Penny recognized the Spring Maiden. In Jaune Arc, she saw an aural well deeper than even the Goliath Malice.

Pyrrha Nikkos had none of these traits. She looked mundane, for a Huntress.

Penny called the stasis pod in the basement. The biometric recordings were unmistakable. Amber had died, violently. So someone was now the Fall Maiden. By deduction, Cinder Fall.

Penny turned to Glynda, moving Crusader's bulk with two stomps. She demanded, "Where is Cinder Fall? I will kill her."

Glynda shook her head. "It's too late. You have to help everyone escape."

"No. This position must be defended until Pyrrha Nikkos and Cinder Fall are destroyed."

Everyone glanced to Pyrrha, then Glynda, then Penny.

Jaune stammered, "U-uh, Penny? W-What was that part about Pyrrha?"

Penny turned to Pyrrha. Two stomps. A slight lean. She asked, "Has no one told you?"

Pyrrha's irises contracted. Her lips trembled. She looked at Glynda, then back to Penny. She warbled, "Why did _everyone_ but me know?"

Penny pointed her chain cannon at the sky. "Father used to say that people who concern themselves with the world before them are blind. Fate is written in the stars, on the shattered moon, in the spirals that decorate the Grimm. The writing is very clear, Pyrrha. Tonight, humanity will create the first of the new gods. Tonight, you die atop this tower."

Pyrrha recoiled and raised her spear. Coco spun up her mini gun. Cardin offered his shield, and Nebula readied her crossbow.

Penny waggled her massive arms. "Nonono, wait! Sorry, I come on a bit strong sometimes. I'm not threatening you or anything, Pyrrha. It's the right thing to do. So I'm just telling you about it. And you're a hero, so you'll do the right thing."

Pyrrha shivered. Coco glanced to her, an eyebrow raised.

Penny added, "Not that any of you could stop me. Only Ruby could do that."

Everyone glanced to Ruby.

Coco asked, "What's special about her?"

Penny turned to Coco. Stomp. Stomp. "I don't have time to list all of that. But I was referring to the duralithium blade hanging from her waist. She took it from my old body. Those blades, charged with enough energy- which I'm sure Ruby can provide- become electron blades. That is the only weapon that can pierce my new body."

Coco raised her other eyebrow. "And why would you tell her that?"

Ruby and Penny answered in unison. "Because we're friends."

Pyrrha interrupted. "I won't do it."

"But if you do, the future will be perfect."

"I. Won't. Do it." She was crying. "I'm not a hero. I'm scared, and I don't want to die. I want…"

She looked to Jaune. Penny measured their conversational distance and wondered if they were romantic partners. Pyrrha put a hand on his cheek. "I want to run away. To Mistral. Together."

She kept her hand on Jaune, but looked to her friends. "All of us. We should leave Vale."

Glynda nodded. "Agreed."

Penny lowered her arms. She asked, "Are you sure? Do you need some time to think about it?"

Pyrrha reclaimed her hand and reigned in her affection. Her face steeled. "The tower can be rebuilt. Property can be recovered. Lives cannot. We have to leave."

Penny read agreement on everyone's faces. She rumbled, "Oh."

Ruby had been distracted, watching the Elysian Knight tend to her sister. She turned to see how the situation had darkened. "Wait. Wait! What's going on? P-Penny? You're on our side, right?"

Penny nodded crusader's bulk. "I'm always on your side, Ruby."

Ruby stood and gripped the duralithium blade, uncertainly shuffling her feet. Penny had imagined this all happening with smiles. She had imagined toasting to the new world with her sister.

Ruby swallowed. "You're… You're not going to hurt Pyrrha, right?"

Penny reviewed her etiquette. She had exhausted every polite maneuver, every political phrasing, and every thorough explanation.

"There are rules, Ruby. I know it's hard for you to understand. But the rest of us have to do what we have to do. We were created for this. Pyrrha, the ideal woman, untouched by the cruelty of the world, must be sacrificed tonight, either to create a god, or to preserve Vale. No other sacrifice will do. So if I have to hurt her, I will."

Ruby's hairs stood on end. Her eyes shimmered with tears and silver. Her aura flared. "Penny. If you try to kill my friends… I'll have to kill _you_. I don't want to do that."

Penny no longer had a face to smile with.

She wished, "Don't be sad, Ruby. I've copied myself to your Scroll. No matter what, I'll always be with you."

The device lit up in Ruby's pocket, and she glanced to it. A chibi of Penny waved on the screen. Ruby smiled. Penny hoped it would serve her well. A mere Scroll would not function as a phylactery for the soul; Penny would depart this world with Crusader. But Ruby didn't need to know that.

Ruby straightened her expression. "B-but… Penny, why do we have to fight? Why don't we-"

"Because I am trying to make a perfect world, and they are trying to stop me, Ruby. I'm sorry, but there's no more time. Whoever wins has to stop Cinder and fight the Grimm. Pick a side, Ruby."

Crusader's laser targeting lit up, and each student recoiled as a beam marked them.

Coco, her face hard, shouted, "Penny! You're making a mistake!"

"No," Penny monotoned. "To err is human. But I forgive all of you."

Ruby stumbled forward and put a hand on Crusader. "Penny! Penny, wait! You're going to kill us?"

"Not you, Ruby. I could never hurt you."

Ruby looked into her hand, at the only weapon that could harm Crusader. Penny saw that she understood, finally, that she was the Fulcrum of the situation.

"You have to make a choice," Penny explained, "Because only you can."

Crusader's cannons spun up. The missile pods opened. Ruby scrambled up Crusader's face plate and raised the blade like a dagger. Her aura pulsed through the machine, and Penny felt it like a tickle as it found her glowing from the CPU.

Ruby swallowed.

Velvet shouted, "Coco! What do we do?"

Adel had lost most of her hope. She screamed, "Just stay alive!"

Nora cupped her hands and screamed, "DO IT, RUBY!"

Penny watched the decision form on ruby's face. It was done. So she whispered, as best as Crusader could, "Goodbye, Ruby, my first and only friend."

Ruby's eyes flared. A light pure and purifying scored Crusader's armor and ignited the air. The electron blade sparkled to life. Penny released death. The students scattered to cover.

The blade howled when it struck armor. Ruby pressed it down, and sparks showered over the foyer. The howl became a chorus, like the dead rising in agony, echoing in the courtyard and shrieking from the missiles and cannons. Penny had imagined this sound before, when Father described Hell.

Warnings filled her consciousness when the blade breached the cockpit. It dove through Ciel's heart and cracked the CPU, bringing the sins of their father to an end.


	75. Will there be Malice?

Shadowcat ran through the public gardens. She found her bug out bag in a tool shed and wrapped herself in black. The backpack had all the gear she'd need to evade city systems and get over the wall. She just needed to find out which direction wasn't a swarm of Grimm. She tightened the chest strap and looked up.

A Raven had perched on the toolshed. Any other day, she would have missed it. But instinct had spotted the outlier. Every other animal had fled. This one stood erect and calm, watching her. Blake stood tall and nodded. She remembered the night in the embassy, when Raven had saved her.

The Raven blurred at the edges, expanding into a cloud of black smoke, then solidifying as Raven Branwen. Great, black wings arched from her back. She hopped down onto the grass, her hair flowing like the tail of a kite, and the wings briefly extended to full form. Shadowcat tensed, expecting talons. But Raven landed and the wings vanished like a trick of the darkness.

Raven's bone faceplate crawled with red spirals. She extended her off-hand and pointed at the tower.

Shadowcat scowled. "What?"

"You're going the wrong way."

"I'm going where I can survive."

Raven folded her arms. "Your mother embraced Fate. She'd be disappointed in you."

Shadowcat drew Gambol Shroud from her back and pointed it. "You don't care about family!"

Raven gestured at her. "You do."

"My family is dead!"

"You've made a new family." She pointed again towards Beacon.

Shadowcat had laid low there, it was true. She'd integrated herself into groups and allowed kith to replace kin. But what had it meant when it mattered? Not enough to keep her from running. Shadowcat had only what she could hold in her hands. Her heart carried no blood.

She admitted, "They're better off without me."

Raven gestured to her side. Reality warped like a strange mirror, and a hole opened to another place. She offered, "You still have friends, Blake. They still need you."

The name made her ears tingle. She wondered who was waiting for her. What was being offered?

Raven admitted, " _I_ need your help."

Shadowcat pointed. "Where does that go?"

"We need one other person."

"Why?"

"Because all of this matters to us." Raven gestured at the world. The sweep of her arm included the stars. "And if you want to run away, your chances will be better after we kill the goliaths."

Shadowcat laughed. "That sounds risky."

Raven shrugged. "There's safety in numbers." She stepped through the portal.

Shadowcat had nowhere better to be. Blake had nothing to lose.

So they stepped through, and arrived in a military tent. The air reeked of burnt plasma. She heard an S240B laying las rounds nearby. Inside the tent, Atlas and Vale officers rubbed shoulders around a holo-table. Raven Branwen put a finger to her lips. Shadowcat nodded.

General Ironwood was speaking. "Goliaths Disgust, Irreverence, Malice, and Vanity are leading swarms through Mountain Glenn against The Tower. We believe a Monarch Conclave is leading the force in Forever Falls. Our chances are best if we can scatter those Monarchs and secure a route through the forests. We can't dedicate forces to that unless we can slow the goliaths. Agent? That task goes to you and the Retinue. What do you need?"

Two officers shifted their weight. Through the gap, Shadowcat spotted the black visor-cap of the Retinue, and the polished skull at its front. She recognized Agent Hikari Oni of the Black Suns. Of the Winter Soldiers. She'd last seen Hikari from the wrong end of a rifle, at the embassies.

Hikari, focusing on the table, licked her lips. "I was just at the Tower. If the White Fang haven't killed everyone, there are still students holding out. I need a few infantry men and three crew fed weapons per man. We'll run an elastic defense. The problem is getting there in time to dig in. Goliath Rancor's cut us off."

Raven leaned into the conversation and pointed at the table. "I've already killed Disgust and Vanity. I can take Agent Hikari to the tower. I'll need help with Malice."

Everyone gaped. Shadowcat smirked. She envied Raven's social power.

Raven looked at Ironwood. Her tone dropped to spite. "When I'm not burdened by your politics, I'm quite a huntress."

Ironwood straightened.

Hikari chuckled. "Why are you helping us?"

"I have interests at the tower. It can't fall yet."

"Your daughter," Ironwood guessed.

Raven looked at him, but said to Hikari, "Whenever you're ready, Agent."

Hikari tipped her cap to Ironwood, then picked up her rifle, winked at Shadowcat, and followed Raven through her portal. Shadowcat took a last look at the military officers. Raven had mistaken these people for her friends. They were certainly her acquaintances. She waved awkwardly and stepped through the portal. They'd gone somewhere bright.

Agent Hikari wore a white cape over her black storm cloak. The cape glittered in the CCT foyer's lighting. The place was thrashed. Corpses lay throughout the school courtyard and the tower's entryway. Crusader stood gutted half-way over the threshold. Two Paladins smoked in their craters. A third sparked and burned, impaled in melee.

Coco, Velvet, Cardin, and Nebula were searching bodies in the courtyard. A few hours ago, they'd each had their own team. Blake wondered who else was lost. Team JNPR huddled together, intact, consoling Pyrrha.

And then Ruby announced herself.

She asked, "Mom?"

Hikari turned her way.

Ruby had recognized the cape. She was seated in an office chair, Yang unconscious in her lap. Raven lowered her hood, and Ruby's face hardened. But Raven approached, to place a hand on Yang, and Ruby softened again.

She explained, "Adam cut her arm off."

Raven didn't answer. Blake had to look away and walk around the elevators, to break the sight and be anywhere else. She heard Hikari shouting to Coco and organizing a defense. She found the hallway she'd left Weiss in.

Banesaw lay dead. Bits of Amethyst painted the wall. Tens of other faunus she'd never met clogged the rear entrance. She wondered if there was anywhere free of nostalgia. Where could she go that ghosts would not haunt her? Could she build a life on Remnant without disturbing a grave?

Hikari shouted. "Hey! Shadowcat!"

She turned to look at the soldier.

Hikari waggled a magazine at her. "Gambol Shroud takes twenty-two's, right? Here. Early present."

She tossed the ammunition. Shadowcat inspected it. She cringed, "Early present?"

The Agent shrugged. "It's your birthday in two weeks, right?"

Shadowcat recalled that Hikari had a birthday in two months. With enemies like these…

Blake inspected the mag. Stone charges. She dumped her training rounds and reloaded. Raven opened a new portal, but held out a hand for patience. "We're confronting Malice directly."

Blake interrupted. "I'd like a moment to talk to my friends."

Raven shook her head. "We should leave before Cinder comes up the elevator and kills everyone."

Blake straightened. "What?"

Hikari raised her eyebrows in agreement. "Cinder Fall is here?"

Raven corrected, "The Fall Maiden is here. We have a mission. We should stick to it."

Shadowcat folded her arms. Hikari nodded. "You were saying?"

"Stow your weapons. Malice can't be killed conventionally."

She opened the portal and stepped through. Hikari didn't follow. She turned a distrustful look to Shadowcat. They stared at each other for a while. No one figured out a question that would help. Agent Hikari smiled. "I guess we're supposed to trust each other?"

Shadowcat looked away. "I can set things aside, as long as we're fighting Grimm."

Hikari looked at the portal. "And how do you feel about Cinder Fall?"

"The enemy of my friends is my enemy."

Hikari nodded. "Keep in mind… Raven and Cinder have worked together before. I think you and I have ourselves a truce."

She stepped through the portal. Shadowcat followed.

The Dread Presence of the Grimm greeted her. Stepping through the portal, she met a resistance immaterial but powerful. She couldn't tell where they'd arrived. Night obscured all. But darker than darkness, silhouettes loomed and slithered around her. Agent Hikari cracked a glow-stick, and the circle of light betrayed them. Grimm- hundreds, overlapping and interlocking, splicing and splitting as they circled.

She whispered, "Oh."

Blake remembered to breathe. She felt as if the attention of the whole host of death had focused on her. She felt Malice.

Then she saw it, looming over them like a judge. Raven stood facing it. The goliath reached for her with its trunk, and she stroked it. The red of its spirals pulsed along its face and down its trunk. The pulse carried over Raven's form, illuminating her. She'd merged with it, her hand a part of the goliath, then her arm. She sighed and pulled away, the dark strands dissolving to smoke as she did.

Then she turned to Hikari, glanced at Blake, and said, "The rest is up to you."

The goliath's head had mimicked her motion. It followed her gestures with its trunk. The spirals decorating its face were mirrored on hers.

She traced them with her finger. "I am Malice." Ten thousand voices spoke with her. "Born from the animosity between human and faunus kind. I am the contract signed in Dust and souls at Chernobyl. I am the war in its totality, the promise of mutual annihilation, and of impetus and pain until then."

She held an upturned palm to Shadowcat. "We are the souls of the dead, bound to the Queen of the Hunt, should she ascend the Tower."

And another to Hikari. "We are the servants of the Schnee, should she call upon her fallen enemies."

Hikari held up a hand. "I'm not a Schnee."

Raven sighed, her voice alone. "And I'm not a Goliath. But if we act as agents, we can carry out the ritual. You two can destroy this monster you've created. Blake, you are the last survivor of the faunus present at Chernobyl. Agent Hikari, you are the last survivor of the Retinue who were present. You two represent the last chance to make peace from that atrocity. So."

Malice, Raven, shifted their weight and sat in one motion. They gestured for Blake and Hikari to follow. Ten thousand voices asked, "Will there be Malice?"


	76. Malice III

"Uh…"

Blake looked at Hikari. The Agent shrugged. They turned to Raven.

"So…" Blake held out her hands. "What do we do? What's the ritual?"

"That's up to you. Whatever quells your desire for revenge, permanently."

Blake glanced at up to Malice. She'd never seen a Grimm so patient- more patient than her. She looked again at the Retinue Agent. The black visor-cap, the skull insignia, personified her. She couldn't make peace with the agent of a death squad. Not instantly, and not permanently.

Agent Hikari returned the same doubtful expression.

She started a question for Raven, who interrupted, "The alternative is that you die horribly and slowly, and then Vale is destroyed by this unquenchable monster."

Blake looked around her, at the Grimm packed so thick and piled so high she felt buried in their writhing mass. And looming over that mass, Goliath Malice, peering down at them as if into a well.

Blake didn't want to die horribly and slowly, nor could she condemn Vale. She turned to Agent Hikari, and saw the same expression.

Blake licked her lips. "This'll be easier if you aren't wearing that hat."

Hikari nodded, slowly. "Same if you cover your ears."

"They're part of me. They're who I am."

"So is my uniform."

"You can change out of it."

"I've been in uniform for eight years. You didn't have trouble covering your ears for a whole year at Beacon."

Blake seethed. Malice grumbled in delight.

"Careful," Raven hummed.

"Fine," Blake relented. "I'll do it if you do it."

Hikari nodded and removed her cap. Blake wrapped a ribbon over her head and tied it in a bow. Like her mother, she passed for human. Hikari still looked like an Agent of the Retinue.

Blake huffed, "This isn't going to work."

Raven held up a hand. "Try addressing your grievances."

She reached into her hair, black and formless, as if a cavern were there. And from the darkness, she retrieved a crown. "The Mantle of the Winter Maiden. You've fought over this before. Remember it. Imagine it."

It was hard not to. Blake had said goodbye to Adam that day. Hikari had lost Roja, and a lot of sleep.

The darkness surrounding them howled, and a chill wind blew snow in their faces until whiteout drew the scene. Blake shielded her eyes. When the storm subsided, her arms lowered, and she was looking at Adam. He grunted, "Your hunt, Wetnose. Your calls."

Blake nodded. "It's time."

The shadowpact turned and slid down a snowy bluff. Through the storm, the train was just a roar rushing their way. Blake directed her ears and made a guess, leaping into the white. Snowblind and windchilled, she sailed and prayed.

They landed fine, thudding against the car and securing grips. She peeked into the window and saw white uniforms patrolling a dining car. Wrong one. She climbed to the roof and signaled everyone forward.

They knew this was a passenger train. They also knew the Retinue had found the Mantle of Winter, and were holding it in their own carriage, somewhere fore.

Blake "Wetnose" Belladonna had been given the honor of leading this hunt. As Adam had explained, her assassination record didn't count. This would be her first honorable, real, kill. It didn't feel different.

She slid down the car's side and spotted black uniforms through the window. Their armbands were red for the blood of Mantle, white for the purity of Winter, and Black like the jagged Sun they revered. They lounged around a barren cabin and raised their canteens in song. Blake spotted the agent by her visor-cap, and the briefcase handcuffed to her. One soldier, "ROJA" written across her back, stood at the room's center and lead the chorus.

Blake held out a hand for attention. She made eye contact with Verdan, Adam, Umbra, and Amethyst.

Verdan tapped his wrist and signaled fifteen seconds to the ambush.

Blake nodded and signaled what she'd seen. Then, PINCER-WAIT-MY-FIRE.

Everyone gave a thumbs up.

Blake leaned down and watched. She heard Roja hitting a high C and holding it like an angel. That voice was too pure for this world.

The first bullet was not the last. The train entered their killzone and a rocket disconnected them from the engine. The rebel yell rose from the hills around them. Everything on plan except the fury of the Black Suns' response.

The Agent threw herself half-way out a window, glass shattering into her skin and weapon-hand. Her expression, the pain and vengeful passion, had an inescapable personification. That response was Blake's first taste of the lives she'd prosecuted. And the speed at which Hikari snapped off accurate fire, the feeling of aural-piercing bullets skimming her face, was Blake's first proper introduction to death.

Adam pulled her back to the car's rooftop. From her back, panting, she realized, "This is wrong, Adam. We shouldn't be doing this."

Snow blinded her, then whisked away the image.

She was standing in Vale, darkness encircling her.

Raven hummed, "The rest, as they say, is history."

"Yeah. Fuckin' water under the bridge," Hikari snapped.

She wore the same vengeful scowl as before. But she didn't direct it at Blake. Her attention stayed on the Goliath. She swallowed the fury and struggled to keep it down.

Blake asked, "Why didn't you shoot me? At the embassy. That was you, wasn't it?"

Hikari nodded. She'd wondered that, too.

She reminded herself, "You were just a kid. Adam used you like he's used a thousand others. You didn't have any more agency than the rest of us. So you ran away. You got your agency. And… With your freedom… Well… You just aren't my enemy anymore."

She swallowed, still not looking Blake's way.

Blake nodded, for the acknowledgement. She gestured to Hikari's lapels.

"But… You _did_ have agency."

"Not always," Raven interrupted.

The Huntress reached into her hair again, and from it procured a tiny totem. Raven tossed it to The Agent.

The space around them warped, the distances stretching and morphing until Blake felt as if she was watching from afar and below. She'd shrunk, she realized. She was standing in her cage, in Chernobyl, little totems decorating the snow around her. In the distance, a small troop of retinue had gathered by the food stockpile. She directed her ears to the conversation.

Hikari looked up from the totem in her hand. White, Gelb, Cherry, Rosa, Braun, Roja, Orchid, and Blau gathered around her. Everyone could guess what the satchel charges were for. She swallowed.

And she told them, "I don't want to do this, guys."

She looked at them.

White shook his head. "No one wants to do it, Hikari."

"What we want doesn't matter," Orchid noted. "Not until one of us has agency."

He turned a very suggestive look to Hikari.

"He's got a point," White nodded.

Orchid pressed, "You are favored to be the next Agent of the Black Suns. Everyone knows it."

"What's in a name?" Rosa hummed.

"That," Orchid nodded and admitted. "But also, Soleil thinks you're willing to do things like this, and he knows some of us would carry it out… Less effectively."

Hikari looked at the food stockpile. She looked at Orchid. "If I do this, someday I'll be an agent. I'll be able to tell him no."

"And then none of us will have to do this," White hoped.

"So… I should do it so that I won't have to do it?"

"You should do it so we don't all get shot," Cherry argued.

Hikari hesitated. She looked at the wood carving in her hands. The faunus laborers made these to impart blessings. Most villages had more wealth than these peasants knew existed. The mere sentiment of twenty minute's carving was the epitome of a gift.

She asked, "Did I ever tell you guys why I joined?"

"Fortune teller told you to?" Braun remembered.

"A fortune teller told me… That I would meet Winter."

"Who?" Gelb asked.

"Schnee?" White guessed.

Hikari smiled as much as the cold allowed. "Heh. That would be a hell of a thing. She didn't say. But she said I'd meet a person. Winter. She didn't say it like a name. But I felt like there's this person out there that I'm meant for. So here I am, trying to follow a mystical path to true love."

Cherry quipped, "Did the fortune teller mention genocide?"

"She didn't." Hikari turned a wry grin to her friends. "Do you guys ever feel like we're being punished for a past life?"

Everyone laughed. In unison they agreed, "Every god damn day."

Orchid stopped laughing suddenly. He turned shoulder-to-shoulder with Hikari. "Nobody look. I just saw a glint in the window on the command pre-fab. Hikari, I think Soleil's watching you."

Hikari nodded. "You guys can leave. I did this. Not any of you. Just me, okay?"

"See you all in Hell," Cherry waved. They scattered.

The next week was a snowy blur of horror. Hikari spent her nights whittling away at a twig she'd found. At some point, so discrete she didn't watch herself do it, the totem slipped from her hand and fell beside the faunus girl's cage.

Blake reached into the snow and picked it up. She remembered this one. The completely unskilled craftsmanship had distinguished it. She looked up at the agent.

They stood again in the darkness. Malice swarmed around them, but not between them.

Raven egged, "Time is passing."

Hikari nodded. To Blake, she said, "Well… Like I said. You're not my enemy."

Blake felt the same. She had a new life. She hated the Woman in Red, Cinder Fall. She didn't care about the White Fang or the Retinue. She cared about her friends.

But Shadowcat hadn't decided. Shadowcat had stayed awake at night, memorizing faces by candlelight.

Shadowcat had hidden away on _Eidolon_ for three days to kill Schwarz Schnee.

She'd lived as the urban homeless for her chance at Azure Cobalt's throat.

She'd had nightmares about Noir Soleil.

She had dreamed daily of Ironwood and Gray, who awaited her.

And here stood the perpetrator herself, Agent Hikari of the SRS- minus her hat. She'd never known Hikari's vision, nor seen her path. She looked at the wooden carving. She and Hikari were in this together. They had the same enemies. They delighted equally in battle. And if they were successful, the evil dead would pave a road to… Somewhere better.

Shadowcat looked at Hikari again. She smiled.

Hikari mirrored the smile. It was a sour, bitter thing- very understanding of their dark parts finding common ground.

"All my friends in the White Fang are dead," Blake admitted.

"All my friends in the Retinue are dead," Hikari nodded.

"And all of my new friends…" Blake continued. "They wouldn't understand, what it's like. What I was like."

She squared her shoulders to Hikari. "I guess… Let's do this. Peace. Forever."

Hikari offered a hand. "Shake on it?"

"Lets."

Blake bit her wrist to draw blood into her palm.

Hikari spit into her own palm.

They squinted at each other.

They laughed.

And Malice, the Goliath, dispersed like smoke.

Its growling faded away, the echo dwindling. Bone plates fell and cracked against the ground. The red spirals bled into every surface and vanished. The bones dissolved to dust. Within the minute, every Grimm had vanished.

The three of them stood alone, at the dead silent center of Merlot's Magic Kingdom in Mountain Glenn.

Raven grunted. Her faceplates slid loose and shattered. The skin beneath them shone pink like a baby's. She touched her face for the first time in a decade, and winced from the sensitivity. Her eyes, once red, now glowed a brilliant purple.

She stood, shoulders back, chin higher, seeming a little taller when she smelled the air.

She smiled, "Thank you."

Hikari shrugged, "Any time."

Blake asked, "So… It's gone? For good?"

Raven, instead of answering, gestured a portal open.

"We all have places to be."

She stepped through before they could ask where it led.

Hikari replaced her visor cap and looked at Blake.

"You know your mother was here, a long time ago." She gestured at the abandoned tower.

"Yeah," Blake nodded. "Adam told me. About an hour ago."

"Adam's in Vale?"

"I think he ran away."

"Typical."

Hikari shook her head and looked at the portal. "Where do you think this one goes?"

Blake looked at the tower. Past it, something like a Black Sun rose in the sky where the moon should be. She sighed, "I have a guess," and stepped through, into the office of Headmaster Ozpin.

Blake's low heels clacked on white tile, each foot falling in time with the giant clockwork mechanism. Its forceful ticking echoed in the vaulted ceiling.

Raven stood at the glass windows. Hikari stepped in and immediately sought the Headmaster's desk.

Blake let her go for Raven's side.

"You know…" She said, "Yang is down there."

"She doesn't care," Hikari interrupted.

Blake looked at the Agent. She had flicked on the holographic office and was tapping her way through files on the desk.

Blake turned back to Raven and said, "I think you do."

Hikari interrupted again. "She abandoned Yang Xiao Long. She likes killing Grimm, but she likes killing people, too. You're talking to a certified sociopath, Shadowcat."

Hikari found something that displayed in red. She frowned at it.

Raven turned to the Agent. "Grimm have to kill to survive. I was cursed, and now I've broken it."

"Doesn't explain why you left your daughter."

"So I wouldn't kill her. I left my daughter in a loving home. You left Winter alone."

She turned to Blake, "Just as you left Yang, alone."

She looked out the window again, and said to both, "They love you, you know."

Blake swallowed. She rushed past introspection and shouted, "So we're all guilty! Is that your excuse?!"

Raven smiled. "I don't need an excuse. I'm not the one in purgatory."

She folded her arms and leaned against the window frame, eyes fixated on a calm city block.

Agent Hikari flicked the office off. "Shadowcat. The CCT network is down. We can bring it back online from here, but we have to work fast. Cinder Fall is coming up here, and we should be somewhere else before she arrives."

Raven's smile became a smirk. "You can't avoid it. Not while you're serving your sentence. Try escaping. The elevator will refuse you. Weapons won't kill you. Try crossing an ocean. You'll be swallowed by a whale and spit back on shore. You two are bound here."

Blake was usually offended on her own behalf. She'd watched Yang pace in their room late at night shouting at Raven as if she was there to listen. Blake wanted Raven to know the pain she'd caused. That desire was plain on her face, apparently.

Hikari advised, "Wasting your breath, Blake."

"People are responsible for their own actions, Raven! You _have_ to go back for her!"

Raven's smirk mellowed out to a sadder grin. She kept staring at the city, but she answered, "Most people live their whole lives wondering what their purpose is. I don't have that problem. I'm here to kill monsters."

A goliath trumpeted. The city block collapsed as it stepped through.

Raven finished, "And it keeps me busy."

She waved a portal open and stepped into battle.


	77. If the Glove Fits

Clockwork gears tick, tick, ticked through Ozpin's office.

Blake Belladonna stood at the windows, watching Raven work in the city below. The woman matched her myth, slaying Goliath Irreverence with a beauty that compelled an audience.

Irreverence trumpeted its last. The great legs gave out below it.

Ozpin's giant clock ticked away four seconds while the goliath fell to its knees, then another four as it rolled over a city block.

Blake checked on the Retinue Agent, Hikari. She was busy ransacking Ozpin's desk, tearing out the drawers and discarding them. She stopped on one, then reached in and held up a white glove.

"Hey. Shadowcat. You ever seen one of these?"

She tossed it to Blake. The glove bore the sigil of an eye. It looked at Blake, then blinked.

She dropped it and took a step back, stammering, "I- I thought that was a nightmare. My mom had one."

"Yeah? Well Ozpin's got a hundred."

Hikari upended the drawer. The gloves made a curtain as they fell, blinking awake and gathering their surroundings. Hikari scowled at them.

"You know what these are for, Shadowcat?"

In the nightmare, her mother had stolen another woman's soul.

Blake mumbled, "No." She folded her arms and looked back out the window. She added, "And my name is Blake."

Hikari grunted, "Sure," and continued ransacking.

Blake asked, "Is Raven right? That we can't avoid Fate?"

"I don't know," Hikari admitted.

Professor Oobleck had always suggested rephrasing hard questions.

Blake tried, "Are we cursed?"

Hikari barked a laugh. "Hell no. We worked hard for this."

She pulled a clunky telescope from the bottom drawer. "Do me a favor, Blake. Set this up by the window. Point it at the asteroid field trailing behind the moon. I'll do the rest."

Blake walked to her and inspected it. "O… kay? Why?"

Hikari shooed her and impatiently tapped through the interface on Ozpin's glass desk.

Blake hefted the telescope to the window and fiddled with the tripod. As she worked, the Agent explained.

"Whenever the CCT towers desynch, the whole system shuts down. To start it up again, you need all four towers to consent to rebooting together."

Blake squinted. "That's stupid."

"Blame the politicians."

Blake attached the scope to the tripod and sat behind it. She aligned her eye, and the Black Sun came into view.

"So… Why am I pointing this at the moon?"

"The asteroid belt trailing behind the moon. There's a mirror on one of the rocks. We can bounce a laser off it and call the other towers. It's how they synch."

Blake found it glinting on the last rock. "Huh. How'd you put a mirror up there?"

"We didn't." Hikari sat beside her. "We found it there."

Hikari flicked a switch on the telescope's side, and it made a series of clicking sounds. A video conference interface appeared on the window. Three empty portraits appeared, each labeled for a city, each bearing a loading symbol. Vale's displayed Hikari and Blake. The Agent straightened her cap. Blake fixed her hair.

Out the window, _Eidolon_ spit brilliant lights across the night sky, like chains of precious gems flung into the heavens. The broader plasma barrages lit everything for instants, cracking like a whip and turning clouds straight to rain. Black shapes swarmed the cruiser _Woglinde,_ dissolving its silhouette while the office clockwork ticked away a minute.

Blake admitted, "I've never seen anything like this."

Hikari shrugged. "All cities burn the same."

Blake waited for an explanation.

Hikari pointed north. "There was a town outside of Atlas. I don't remember the real name. No offense, but in the Retinue, we called it Furburg."

Blake shrugged. "None taken. In the Fang, we called it Tail Town."

The conference chimed. A fifth empty portrait joined them. Someone asked, "Hello? Hello, anybody there?"

Hikari answered, "Agent Hikari Oni, SRS. I'm at Vale CCT. Who and where are you?"

"You can't see me?"

The video flicked on. "It's me, Agent! Midori! I'm on _Eidolon_ 's bridge _._ "

Blake waved and forced an awkward smile.

Midori shouted, "Agent, look out! Shadowcat's behind you!"

Blake stopped waving.

Hikari sighed. "Yeah. I know. We're cool."

"She's on our side now?"

"There are no sides now."

"Oh." Midori shifted her weight in her chair.

Blake spotted a flash of red hair and a white suit in the background. She asked, "Is that Roman Torchwick?"

Midori pursed her lips.

Hikari raised an eyebrow. "Midori? Who's at the helm?"

Midori cringed, "Yeah, about that. The whole command structure kind of died and Roman seems to know what he's doing, so…" She shrugged.

Blake asked, "Wasn't he in the brig?"

"Yeah, well so was Xiao Long. But we all know how that-" Midori snapped her mouth shut.

Hikari frowned and shook her head.

"Aaaaaanyway," Midori segued, "I'm trying to get the CCT back online. But I guess you're already on that, Hikari?"

"Yeah. Can you send a message to Ironwood? We've got ten huntsmen fighting at the tower. Malice is destroyed."

"Tower's secure?"

"No," Blake interrupted. "The Woman in Red is here."

"Who?"

Hikari nodded. "Cinder Fall is the Fall Maiden now. And she's here. Put exactly that in the message. Ironwood will understand."

Midori set to typing.

A chime announced Vacuo's arrival. The portrait lit up for a shirtless man with a strange accent. "Eh, ah… This thing on?"

Blake waved.

Vacuo accented, "Vale, yeh?"

Hikari nodded. "Yeah. We're still waiting for the others."

Vacuo put his feet up and knocked open a beer bottle against his desk.

Mirodi slapped the enter key louder than the others. She turned to the camera and asked, "Hey, Agent? A civilian flight took off out of order about twenty minutes ago. They're squawking diplomatic colors. Is that, uh… Y'know?"

Blake grumbled, "Probably a Schnee," then realized, "Oh."

Agent Hikari shook her head. "No idea what you're talking about, Midori. You should advise that plane to identify themselves correctly, just like every other civilian."

Midori nodded.

"Will do. Call me if you need anything else."

Her portrait disappeared.

Vacuo threw a weird look at the camera. "Problems in Vale? I though' the ruckus was in Atlas. Retinue buggered the Schnees, yeh? Thea' done for?"

"No," Hikari corrected. "The Retinue is done for."

"Bru'al."

"Play stupid games; Win stupid prizes."

Another chime. Mistral was represented by a well composed woman in elegant robes, posture erect at her desk. She nodded to each camera. "Hello, everyone. This is the Mistral CCT Authority. Whom am I addressing?"

Vacuo answered, "Vacuo an' Vale. Howsit in Mistral?"

"All's well here. It seems the trouble is in Atlas." She squinted. "Is that Blake Belladonna and a Retinue agent? Why are you two in Vale?"

Blake waved.

Hikari pointed at the ground. "The trouble is here, Mistral. Vale is overrun with Grimm. Atlas First expeditionary is effecting a breakthrough at Forever Falls, then evacuating."

Mistral interrupted, "Do you know the status of Pyrrha Nikkos?"

"She's…" Hikari stopped short and licked her lips.

Mistral asked, "Is she… Dead?"

Blake shrugged. "Not yet."

Hikari sighed. "She's helping us defend the tower. We have to hold here so the evacuation can happen. But we can't last forever. As soon as Atlas gets on, we can call for help. That might change things."

Everyone waited a beat, as if the final guest would answer their cue.

The ticking clock accelerated.

Blake and Hikari glanced to it, watched the gears _stepstepstep_.

They heard a chime, and turned back to the display. But Atlas remained inert. The conference hadn't chimed.

The elevator had.

Someone was ascending the tower.

Blake flicked her ears to it. She heard the cables twanging in the shaft, and a cackle rising toward her, like a candy wrapper in impatient hands. She smelled metal and ash, like a blacksmith's forge, like a wildfire.

She realized, "It's her."

Hikari jumped to her feet. "You can tell?"

Blake nodded.

The Agent swallowed. "We're fine. The elevator takes two minutes from the basement. We've just gotta -"

Another chime. Atlas was represented by Winter Schnee.

She blinked at Blake, then turned to her Agent, and hesitated again. "Hikari?"

"Winter. Mission accomplished. Contact _Eidolon_ and ask Midori about an ambassadorial flight."

Below the portraits, a green button labeled, "Reboot" had appeared.

Winter and Hikari hadn't noticed. They were staring at each other, focusing out the end of the world. Blake had seen the same look on Yang. She'd worn it herself. She lamented that she may never wear it again.

Mistral coughed politely.

Vacuo asked, "So… Reboot, yeh?"

Winter ordered, "Your work in Vale is done, Agent Hikari. Return to Atlas immediately."

Hikari smiled sadly. "Sorry, Winter. Maybe in another life."

Mistral and Vacuo leaned forward and pushed their buttons. Hikari reached out and tapped the glass.

Winter stayed. The glow of her aura left her eyes. Her mouth hung open in disbelief. "Agent," she ordered.

Hikari, still smiling, ordered, "Push the button, Winter."

Winter leaned forward and extended her hand. The button's glow illuminated her features.

Hikari said, "Now let it go."

A tear slid down Winter's cheek. She closed her eyes. The call ended, replaced by a turning wheel and the word "Rebooting."

Hikari sighed and swallowed.

Blake offered, "Sorry."

The elevator chimed and they turned to meet their fate.

The doors parted for a wave of fire, spilling forward like a carpet. The flames rose up to cover the Fall Maiden's form, licking her skin and warping the air around her with heat. Molten Gold dripped from her eyes and ignited the tiles as she walked.

In one hand, she twirled Ozpin's cane. In the other, she rolled a glass arrow between her thumb and index finger.

Terror gripped Blake. She'd never been cornered before, confronted in a trap and by fire, with no place to hide and choked by sweltering heat.

Cinder stopped at the room's center and pointed the arrow at Hikari.

She tilted her head, then had a look of recognition. "The soldier from the cliffs. This arrow refused to strike you. Now I know why."

Cinder looked immaculate. The fire had burned away her clothing, but she was like the great beasts of the wild: Never truly naked- clothed in nature's gifts, utility and savagery incorporated into her form. She caught Blake staring, and with a bat of her lashes sent a wave of aura that staggered Blake.

Cinder smirked at the reaction. "Have a seat. You two play a part in what's to come. The ritual calls for a certain audience. The Agent of Salem and the Sacrifice, of course. Then the Simple Soul and her choice. Then two Crusaders. A witness belonging to the gods from on high. And finally, two purgatorial souls. One from light," she nodded at Hikari.

"And one from shadows."

She nodded at Blake.

"Purgatory?" Blake asked. "For what?"

"It's inscribed on your soul. Would you really like to know? Or… Do you already?"

Faintly, below human hearing, Blake heard Hikari whisper. "She likes to talk. Buy time."

Blake nodded. "Yeah. Tell me."

Cinder did like to talk. She pointed a finger at the ground, summoned a little sprite of flame, and conducted it around the room for her amusement. "You two are traitors to kith and kin. You betrayed everyone who loved you."

Blake couldn't stop herself. As if puking, she shouted, "That's not true!"

Cinder let the sprite spin out and turned a condescending look to Blake. "Oh? Well, you know yourself better than anyone. Right?"

She smiled smugly.

Blake swallowed her answer. She had to stay in control of at least herself. She asked, "What's it to you?"

Cinder shrugged and batted her eyes. "Just a curiosity. Your friend is damned forever. But your sentence is expiring this time. And I'd wager you don't have long to mess that up. Good luck." She winked.

Blake decided, in that moment, not to die. She had to leave. The windows were reinforced; she risked bouncing if she tried to run through them. The elevator was her best escape, and Cinder's pacing had carried her away from the shaft.

Hikari said aloud, "We can take her."

Cinder turned her condescension on the Agent. "They say blood is thicker than water. And that friends are the family you choose. But let's be honest."

She covered her mouth and giggled. "The only ties that bind you two are of servitude."

Blake leaped for the elevator. Fire spiraled up it from below, and she stopped short of a swirling crucible. Cinder had turned and extended an arm.

Blake flexed her semblance and zipped into the ceiling's cogs and catwalks. She landed atop one of the clock tower's bells and caught her balance, controlling the bell's sway before it rang. Her heart beat like a thousand hooves. Her hands trembled and her fingers failed to articulate. She looked down into the office.

Flames wafted from the shaft in waves, cutting off the only exit. Cinder lowered her arm, and the flames died. But she didn't turn. She was staring at Blake's semblance.

Blake's mirror image had warped. The cat ears were still there, nestled now in Yang's golden locks. Feline eyes blazed red like blood. And though the tragedy was plain on its face, Yang's stalwart dimples gave the impression of a smile.

Cinder turned and looked up at Blake. Hiding hadn't spared her from Cinder's sight in the slightest. Cinder peered, then thought aloud, "There's a unique twinge in your aura. Have you been to Chernobyl?"

Blake dropped a shadow and jumped to a catwalk higher above the bells.

Cinder continued, "I knew another woman just like you. Her name was Khali."

Blake didn't have time to ruminate on her mother. She had to survive. And her fear wasn't helping her.

She peeked over the catwalk's side, looking for Cinder.

Instead, she saw her semblance, sitting on the bell. It didn't look scared or sad or anything like Yang. It perched like a predator, cool and confident. And when Blake looked at it, it turned its head to her.

Blake took a step back. She'd never made it move before. She wasn't making it move. Yet there it was, leaping up onto the catwalk with her and standing in her personal space.

Blake gulped.

Shadowcat grinned, "You know what to do, Blake."

Blake swallowed.

She'd really taken this split personality thing past the edge.

Blake couldn't think through her fear.

But Shadowcat had steady hands and precise ideas.

And she was such a familiar persona to wear.

Being her was like riding a bike.

Or like slipping into a glove.

She felt the silky fabric twist around her fingers.


	78. Cinder

Cinder Fall paced in Ozpin's office, eyes turned up to the clockworks in the ceiling. Blake had moved again, hiding her porcelain face in the shadows. Cinder cast her nerves above, burning threads emerging from her wrists and embroidering the ceiling in flaming fractals. She felt the hollow curves of the bells, the sturdy crenellations of each cog, and then a cold place where even the fire of the Fall Maiden refused to go.

Cinder crossed the office. The cavity among the catwalks was an inky, amorphous blackness. Salem's face floated there, watching everything with a dark smile.

Cinder returned her gaze to the office, to the soldier standing by the window. Hikari held a steady hand by her holstered revolver. Her eyes twitched over bad ideas. A bead of sweat dripped down her forehead. It blurred, and Cinder forgot about it.

Focusing on individuals was getting harder. It was hard to care, now that the wizard was dead.

She felt a weight in her hand. She held Ozpin's weapon, disguised as a cane. In his hands, it had ruined her life. Now that she'd dispossessed him of all power, the tragedy seemed so avoidable, so much less dire than it had been. She snapped it in her grip, and with her flames reduced its adamantium core to ether.

Her hand was empty. There was nothing personal left to her: friend nor foe.

She was losing her edge. After three millennia, Cinder could finally loosen her grip on the pain, on the reality. Time was catching up with her, ticking far faster than she remembered.

The clock had accelerated again. Like a water-wheel empowered- then carried off- by a flood.

Cinder held an arrow in her right hand. Two nights ago, she'd brought it to kill her enemies at Athena's chapel. This one had refused to strike. She looked at Hikari.

The soldier swallowed her fear. Her hand crept to the revolver.

Cinder shrugged. "Go ahead."

The soldier snapped it out and fanned through the rounds, the hammer clapping but never igniting. Eight duds. Hikari flipped open the cylinder and grimaced at her bullets.

Cinder offered a smile.

Hikari grumbled, "Well… Shit."

Cinder's fire became a blossom around her. She gestured at the weapon. "You arrived here under the same miracles that now protect me. Don't be ashamed. Your defeat is predetermined. Sometimes…" Bad memories curdled Cinder's smile. She renewed it. "Sometimes grace is all we have."

Cinder held out a hand and flexed her semblance. A glass window warped inward, then softly morphed into a bow and landed in her hand. Hikari shifted her weight and her eyes, seeking cover.

Cinder notched the arrow and drew it back, explaining, "We are all slaves to Fate. The moment of our death is preordained. And nothing can change it."

She released the arrow. It shattered against Hikari's breast pocket, tearing the cloth and revealing a metal trinket- A cameo of her lover. The arrow had shattered the image, but refused again to kill her.

Hikari caught the trinket as it fell. She spent a second gaping at the shattered glass and unrecognizable picture. Her jaw clenched. When she looked up again, Cinder saw the flames reflected in Hikari's pupils, a liveliness she'd long wanted to see in another person.

Hikari drew a knife from her belt and charged.

Cinder smirked at the futility. A blade could do nothing to a huntress. She felt the durasteel graze her aura, the pressure warping her cheek. And then, glancing at the hilt, she realized it had a trigger.

Hikari pulled it. The blade spluttered, then turned ethereal and spewed screaming plasma. Aura scattered before the cutting edge. The flames blew out where it swished, and Cinder's cheek split like a grape. She shrieked.

Hikari snarled, her features contorted between glee and rage. The flames scorched her skin and ignited her uniform.

Cinder jerked the window panes to her. They shattered, and the shards formed a jagged vambrace on her wrist.

The soldier reached her again. Her strikes were well-practiced; She'd certainly killed with that knife. But Cinder had practiced for three-thousand years longer. She parried blows, then caught the last strike by the wrist.

The knife's edge stopped sputtering as the crystal died.

Cinder grabbed the blade and snapped it, leaving Hikari with the hilt. She gutted the soldier with the vambrace, splattering herself with blood.

Hikari growled, clawing at Cinder's face and trying to gouge her eyes.

Cinder growled back. She hadn't lost her calm like this for a long time. No one had interrupted her so rudely nor effectively since the late wizard.

And Hikari's refusal to solemnly die had likewise irked the divine.

The dreaded roar echoed across Remnant and swayed the tower. The stars flickered. The Wyvern, Contempt, had woken.

Cinder hugged Hikari, pulling her closer and forcing the glass vambrace through her spine. She spied over the soldier's shoulder as Contempt shed its disguise.

The bald mountain overlooking Mountain Glenn unfurled. A tail unraveled from the base. A titanic neck spiraled out from its top. The sides opened like a wardrobe, then spread across the sky. And with a single beat of its wings, Contempt ascended, covering the whole of the firmament.

Hikari tried to struggle free. Cinder gripped her and hissed into her ear. "Usually only huntsmen can feel Grimm. This is different. Even something as low as you should feel the divine dread."

She ripped the vambrace from Hikari's gut and watched her slide to the floor.

Hikari curled in her blood pool and gripped the cameo in her fist. A blood bubble swelled on her lips. She croaked, "Winter," and it popped.

Cinder sighed, and reminded herself to feel pity for other humans. She offered, "I don't envy you a stomach wound. We have a while until the ritual, and you can't die until you've witnessed it. We're still waiting for the others."

The elevator closed, and with a quit ding, announced that someone on the ground floor had just summoned it.

Cinder smiled.

She cast out her flames again, and they cackled for her.


	79. Pyrrha

Pyrrha Nikkos never wanted to be a hero. In her fantasies, she made a loving family in a happy home. But she had been raised with a sense of duty.

She stood in the CCT Tower's elevator and pointed at the button for Ozpin's office.

Pushing it would be simple. But very simple things can be very difficult.

Jaune shouted her name from the foyer. Through the gunfire and growls, he had realized she was missing. Black smoke washed across the courtyard, and monsters stampeded in the mass.

The Grimm were here. Pyrrha had a place on that line of huntsman, nestled between her friends and shield-arm straining against the horde. But she had another place: alone, atop this tower.

Jaune turned and spotted her. He realized her plan, and horror twisted his cheeks. "Pyrrha, don't!"

She wanted to be with him. But it wasn't about what she wanted. She blinked away the tears and pushed the button.

The doors closed. Acceleration pulled her stomach down. Then dread tugged it. Hard.

She was going to die. There was no other way this could end.

She was nothing compared to an adult huntress.

As the elevator rose, her view expanded over the city.

Goliath Rancor kneeled in rubble and groaned in pain. The fugitive Raven Branwen was sprinting up its tusk. She thrust her fist through its bone faceplate, driving a crack along the whole plate, then forced her arm into the breach and detonated its head with her aura.

In the courtyard, Professor Goodwitch flicked her wand, raising the bricks as a wall. Another flick. The bricks fired. Their wind dispersed the dark cloud and mangled thousands of Grimm, tripping the horde into confusion. Another flick. She raised the corpses. Another flick. They fired.

This was the power of an adult huntress. Pyrrha was about to face Cinder Fall alone. If she was lucky, she could take one hit before her aural shield popped. If she was very, very lucky, she wouldn't get hit.

All of her heroes had died this way, fighting impossible odds, standing against empires. They had died alone and unnoticed for centuries. But their deaths had unseated immortals from thrones.

So if she did the same, maybe Cinder could be stopped.

She thought aloud, "Or I could run."

She clapped a hand to her mouth. She'd never spoken something so awful before. The thought, the fact that it was somewhere within her- that it was some _one_ within her, shocked her.

She couldn't escape her need to do the right thing. But she wanted to. Which of these thoughts was the real her? Both. But in a moment, one of them had to die. And if the Hero had her way, both of them had to die.

She caught motion out the window. Something black was hurtling towards her elevator. She raised her shield, Akoúo̱, but the impact against the glass was silent. She peeked over the shield's rim.

Salem, the Black Queen, seeped through the glass, her face pouring into place like liquid, then hardening to bone. Red bled into the rivulets, drawing spiral patterns along her face, and her hollow eyes blinked open to reveal the galaxies within.

Salem placed a hand against the elevator's window. From her fingers, Ice crawled and cackled across the glass, shutting off the outside world.

Pyrrha's next breath shocked her throat with chill. She gasped and backpedaled into the wall, catching herself with a hand against the controls. Her trembling finger landed atop the emergency stop, spasming in terror so that it _tap-tap-tap-tap-tapped_ precariously against the button.

She'd heard of classified Grimm. She hadn't imagined anything like this.

"Pyrrha," Salem announced.

Pyrrha only had one life to throw away. She couldn't afford to fight this monster.

So she answered, "Hi."

Salem's eyes dropped to the stop button. She asked, "Aren't you going to push it?"

Pyrrha looked at the button, watched her finger rattle against it. She stuttered, "I-I have t-t-to defend the tower. We have to stop the Fall Maiden. Ozpin said so!"

Salem's grin grew wider than her face. She enunciated "Oz-pin? He would _never_ tell a lie. Right?"

Pyrrha didn't know. She did know. Amber had once ridden this elevator and believed the headmaster's lies. He'd forced Raven to murder someone. There were a long line of women suffering for his half-truths. Pyrrha's own consent to this tragedy had been very ill-informed.

Salem clasped her hands together. Her grin mellowed to a human proportion. She explained, "You are going to die on this altar, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha nodded. Her knees rattled. "I might. If that is my D-destiny."

Salem gestured to her frosted window, to the world beyond. "and you're ready to die… For _them_?" She squinted. "You are better than that sinful world, Pyrrha, in every way. It isn't right to sacrifice what is great for what is awful."

That very thought had occurred to her before. Pyrrha had spent a week unable to answer it, unable to sleep soundly or focus on her studies. The blasphemous part of her had challenged her. So she'd ignored and forgotten it, like always.

Now the blasphemer had a voice. Now it demanded her attention, her response.

"I-I'm not better than-"

"Don't lie, Pyrrha. There's no one here to convince."

She realized who she was addressing. Every argument came from within her. So every answer had to return there.

Pyrrha swallowed her fear. She cast aside her idols and her stories. She could not die here in honor of Athena, nor to make her parents proud.

She answered, "I'll die for them because… They're my friends. I love them."

Salem's smiled sharpened to derisiveness. "You love Jaune. You want a family. And from where does that desire arise? The purity of your soul?" Salem shook her head. "You've studied biology, little girl. Chemical compulsions govern your every thought. Your dreams of martyrdom are no nobler than the rutting of cattle. So why obey them?"

Pyrrha didn't like that comparison. She raised her spear, Miló. The tip passed through Salem without collision or effect.

The Black Queen tilted her head in condemnation. "You can't escape your own shadow, Pyrrha. Tell me what makes you this way, or else abandon this foolishness."

Pyrrha didn't have time to deconstruct her nature. And she didn't care to. She knew she could pick apart every piece and find nothing behind the façade of her identity- and that she wouldn't care. Because, "I am who I am. You cannot dissuade me of that. I love Jaune. I love my friends. To know _why_ I am is a luxury. To know _that_ I am is the first necessity. And I know… that I _am_ a hero. And I will do everything I can to spare others from suffering."

Salem shrugged. "So you will die in their place. And then, what? They will live happy lives of bliss? This is pointless. Were it not for the Grimm, your friends would war with each other. Despair is the human condition."

"No!" Pyrrha rejected that as a singular person. She would entertain no deeper blasphemy. That thought had crossed the line into universal wrongness. Her jaw clenched in anger. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"No," she repeated.

And she issued this proclamation as her correction: " _Struggle_ is the human condition!"

Her tremors and her fear ceased. When she opened her eyes again, it was to the glass wall of the elevator, not frosted. The temperature had returned to normal, and Salem was a mere image in the glass, smiling sincerely.

She said, "You are perfect as you are, Pyrrha Nikkos. Perfect... As a sacrifice."

The image faded.

The elevator slowed, then stopped.

And Pyrrha turned to meet her Fate.


	80. The Tower

Pyrrha stepped from the elevator. Her heels clacked against the ash scored tiles of Ozpin's office. Heat glowed in the room's metals- in Ozpin's chair and stylus- in the closest cogs of the clockworks. A moment ago, this room had been a crucible.

On previous visits, she'd grown accustomed to the clock tower's ticking. Tonight it whirred, each step of the gears blending together as they whirled fast and loose, a continuous motion that whipped the hands across the tower's face.

The wind and the city moaned through a shattered window pane.

The office flickered dark as a shadow crossed the Black Sun. Contempt, The Wyvern, its wings birthing zephyrs, circled the site of the ritual. Pyrrha followed its path, wary that it might approach. In the sweep of her gaze, she spotted Cinder.

Pyrrha swallowed.

She'd never wanted to fight a person. Not for real.

And with her hands folded, her gaze low, Cinder looked like a friend. She offered a meek smile, as if to say hello.

She was hiding her bestial nature.

The gears THUD-ded to a halt. And with them, the hands rested at the end of time, where the bells announced midnight.

Cinder raised her chin, to level with Pyrrha as an equal and ask, "Second thoughts?"

Pyrrha shrugged. "It's too late for that, isn't it?"

The elevator doors slid closed, and the shuttle descended. Someone had called it. Good. Pyrrha needed a second shield.

She took an experimental step, clockwise around her opponent.

Cinder's smile broadened, hospitable. So Pyrrha took another and another, to the broken window. Her eyes still locked with Cinder, she held her weapon over the edge. The rifle-spear, Milo, had been invaluable for her whole life.

Pyrrha let go. Her heart skipped as Milo tumbled away. It was useless up here. No matter her experience. She wasn't fighting past battles.

Cinder nodded her understanding. She offered, "Pyrrha… There was a time I would have called you Sister."

Pyrrha folded her arms. "I wouldn't have."

Cinder unfolded hers, to reveal her palms. "I want to at least comfort you that The Wizard is dead."

Ozpin.

Pyrrha nodded.

Cinder could not have escaped The Archives until that fight was resolved. And just behind Cinder's feet lay a dead Retinue Agent.

Cinder was not meek. She was the Fall Maiden. And before that, she had _bested_ the Fall Maiden.

Pyrrha couldn't possibly overestimate the threat.

Fall repeated, "The Wizard is dead. But that's no comfort at all, is it? Not when you're about to join him."

Cinder would win in a conventional fight. So why wasn't she fighting? Through the adrenaline, Pyrrha tried to understand the objective. She recognized the Black Sun, hanging in the sky.

She remembered Penny's prophetic ramblings, and understood. "I know what you're doing. I'm here to stop you."

Cinder frowned. "You could have run away."

Pyrrha shook her head. "It's a symbolic role. If I did, someone else would have taken my place."

Tears brimmed in Fall's eyes. "But _you_ would have lived, Pyrrha."

The elevator made a soft ding, and the doors slid open. Jaune rushed forward, shield ready, then stopped to find friend and foe.

He blurted, "Are we fighting or talking?"

Pyrrha nodded to Cinder. "She's trying to Desecrate the Tower. It's a prophecy from _Crusade_. But she can't begin until everyone is here."

"How many people does she need?"

Cinder counted on her fingers. "We have two purgatorial souls: One from Light, and one from Shadows. We have the Sacrifice and the Agent of Salem. Now, we need two Crusaders. One with power over Life, and the other with power over Death." She raised an eyebrow at Jaune. "And I'm not sure we have either."

Jaune asked, "So, Pyrrha? Why are we letting her stall for time?"

Pyrrha swallowed. Shaky with excitement and fear, she answered, "Because she's not the only one stalling."

They couldn't win conventionally. They needed weapons far beyond rifles and spears. They needed to put Cinder Fall at the end of a rail gun. Or atop one.

Pyrrha's semblance tingled along eight-hundred meters of durasteel columns.

Everyone in the lobby wondered why all the desks and chairs had flown to the elevator shaft.

In Ozpin's office, Cinder wondered why Pyrrha was sweating. She frowned.

Pyrrha couldn't magnetize this structure forever. She needed Milo to snap into place.

It did.

Her hands twitched.

Cinder noted with a glance. Her brow tightened.

Jaune asked, "Uh…"

And then thirty Mega Joules of energy made the Tower groan.

Pyrrha balled her fists, gripping tighter her magnetic reigns. Her hair drifted skyward with static. Floor tiles buckled toward her.

Realization crossed Cinder's face. Milo followed at twelve kilometers per second. The sonic boom shattered all windows and set the clock bells ringing again.

Jaune hit the wall behind him.

Pyrrha fell.

Cinder gurgled. Her jaw was gone. Blood poured from her mangled torso. She looked to where her arm had been, then to Pyrrha.

And though her face had gone, she was smiling.

Her gurgling became laughter.

Her wounds became fire, boiling away the last of her flesh and leaving only flame in her unblemished form. Where once had stood a woman was now only magic.

She inhaled. The flames brightened and swelled.

She exhaled, and her form dimmed to a swirling bronze.

Her face lay half way between a smile and a snarl. "I should be mad," she admitted, "But your virtues are why I love you, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha knew to commit. She lifted floor tiles and slung them like bullets. Cinder scowled. With a flick of her wrist, every magnetic field in the room turned inert. Every metal sparkled like citrine.

Pyrrha flexed her semblance again. Nothing resonated. Even the support columns, as far as she could reach, were now precious metals.

"Don't bother," Cinder snapped. "Gold isn't magnetic."

Jaune grunted and doffed his gold chest plate free. He rushed to Pyrrha's side and brandished Crocea Mors. "My sword's still fine," he noted.

Cinder tilted her head. "Oh no. A sword. However will the Wyvern face you."

Contempt roared. From behind. Pyrrha rolled to her side.

Jaune twirled and raised his shield. A talon tore through the ceiling, one colossal fingernail splitting the arena. Jaune tried to side-step it, then bounced off with his shield.

Cinder gestured, and a wall of flame sprung forward to separate Pyrrha from Jaune. She scolded the boy, "Put it away. You're only here to bear witness."

She looked down. "You too."

With a rough kick, she rolled the retinue agent's body, to face Pyrrha. It wasn't a corpse. Hikari's bloodshot eyes focused.

Pyrrha felt her face flush with rage. "There's no reason to be cruel, Cinder."

"Sadly, there is. This is all about revenge." Cinder held out her hand. Shards of window glass formed a bow and arrow in her grip. She drew the bow and fired aimlessly. The arrow arced and turned to Pyrrha.

Pyrrha raised her shield, only to see the arrow alter course once again. It sped around her in an orbit, then dove in for a second attack. She rolled to evade. A good offense was her only defense. As the arrow turned her way again, she stepped back and hurled her shield like a discus.

Her shield shattered the arrow. Its shards sprayed and diffusing over the shield's curve. But the shards snapped together, reforming the arrow, and it struck her through the heel, snapping her Achilles tendon.

Pyrrha screamed and fell. Mortality settled on her like a cloak, and Grimm whispers filled her mind. She knew she was done walking.

Cinder sighed her aggression away. "I don't want to fight you, Pyrrha. It's better this way, if we just wait and talk."

Pyrrha groaned through the pain. It couldn't end this way. She put her good leg under her and tried to stand. Jaune watched with worry. He eyed the fire wall and thought about crossing. The flames intensified. He had Cinder's attention.

She asked him, "Have you ever watched videos of White Fang executions? They line up the soldiers they've captured, and they kill them- pop, pop, pop- one-by-one. And the victims accept Fate without a hint of resistance."

She turned to Pyrrha and stepped, her heels clacking against the ground. Pyrrha managed to put her knees under her.

Cinder touched her chin, and lifted her fearful gaze. "Now you know why, Pyrrha. It was difficult for me to accept, too."

Jaune shouted, "Pyrrha, get up!"

The fire wall constricted, and Jaune leaped back. He had room only to press against the wall. Heat threatened him, and the flames scorched the tips of his clothes.

Cinder continued, "I was born with wide eyes searching for joy. I looked in every direction and saw infinite possibility. Life seemed a field of boundless fun. Now, I see…"

Her voice caught. Cinder released Pyrrha's chin and stepped back. Regaining her composure, she finished, "Now _we_ see it for what it is: A narrow corridor with painted walls."

She held out her hand, to summon a final glass arrow.

"It's almost time, now."

She notched the arrow and drew it back. As she raised the bow, a tear fell down her cheek.

The Fall Maiden whispered, "I'm sorry, Pyrrha. But you were promised something that was never yours."

Everything brightened, sharp and silver like moonlight. Pyrrha and Cinder turned to see Ruby Rose crest the tip of the tower, eyes blazing, sniper-scythe ready and aimed.

Her finger flexed against the trigger.


	81. Summer

Crescent Rose unhinged from its stave, unfurling to full form in swing. Ruby provided force as the fulcrum, her semblance granting preternatural spin. With one tiny hand, she stabilized the shaft. With the other, open-palm against the pommel, she made slight corrections. Crescent scattered light from her blade, flashing silver then black as she sliced.

A beowolf screamed. Smoke billowed as the creature imploded and its bones scattered, burning. There were millions more.

Clouds of ash obscured the battle, but Ruby sensed the Grimm on all sides, packed so tight their bodies merged as a tide of smoke.

Her feet left the ground, dancing on their backs- and then higher, stepping where no mortal belonged, her scythe reaching down to cull beasts from existence. Her mother's cloak flapped and whirled, iron crosses weighting the edges and slicing monsters.

Her gaze, like the moon, waxed and waned over the battle.

The Grimm made way as she approached, adding their voices to the scream.

The light brightened. Her swings accelerated. Rose petals flittered in from the void, blown by another voice, supernatural and harrowing.

The swarm turned away, Grimm piling and stampeding each other to flee. Ruby soared past her allies. Cardin and Nebula cried out and backpedaled from her.

Crescent's blade tore away the curtain of reality before them. The void and all of its stars gaped and consumed, dragging terrified Grimm as the vacuum swallowed itself, and sealed them away forever.

The divine wind billowed her cloak like a sail, and Ruby flew at the swarm. Griffon wings buffeted the air around her. Talons swiped. Tentacles lashed and swirled like strangle vines.

Crescent intercepted them all.

And again, reality tore. The holes grew broader, overtaking the material realm, collapsing the tapestry façade over the chthonic truth.

Ruby saw through those gaps, to the far side.

It didn't scare her.

The Grimm fleeing did not give her hope.

Victory in battle carried no joy.

First on her mind was Penny's death.

Her friend would be gone forever. And worse, Ruby could levy no punishment against reality severe enough to call justice.

Even her role as a huntress felt rote and bland. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or the shock, but she couldn't feel her own heart beating. She watched herself spinning, then blinking closer to her enemies, kicking up her heels and heaving Crescent with incredible exertion.

She watched it as if from a distance.

She felt none of it.

She didn't want to be here.

She didn't want to be.

Crescent tore another line, and the whole scene drifted away like a curtain. The holes all merged, snapping together like drops of water bonding. And the darkness combined around her, swirling and spherical.

The scream faded to silence.

She was alone, behind the image of reality.

A faint wind blew in the distance.

And from behind, her mother sighed, "Oh, Ruby. Now you've done it."

She tried to turn and see. Her feet had no ground to move on. There was no up or down.

A hand touched her shoulder. "Don't get me wrong. It's good to see you. Just… Not here."

Ruby flexed her semblance. The distant wind shrieked, and Ruby turned in a cloud of rose petals. She met silver eyes in the darkness. The hand, shadowy and transparent, was like smoke given form. Summer had no face- No features beyond the silhouette of a human. A scythe.

Summer cooed, "You don't belong here, Ruby."

"Then let's go back."

Summer shook her head. "I don't belong there."

Of all the things, this alone seemed absurd. Ruby tilted her head. She couldn't read any features on her mother's face. She was obeying laws that clearly didn't matter or exist.

Nothing mattered.

Nothing existed.

Ruby said, "I don't care."

She grabbed her mother's hand and cut them a door.

The scream resumed. Reality snapped around them.

Summer laughed, luster and malevolence entering her like liveliness. She lifted her scythe, black and starry. Ruby lifted Crescent, silver and glowing.

Together.

They reaped.

Ruby did not remember the blur of that fight. Only that the screaming quieted until a single voice remained- Hers. Her momentum slowed, and her feet touched the ground. Her mother drifted beside her, scythe carried low, her smile a silver half-moon, unmoving and horrific.

Ruby smiled at her, and Summer matched her gaze. Ruby turned to her friends. The glow of her eyes bathed them as she approached, and they backpedaled in fear, forming a concave around her.

Ruby stopped.

Her friends all raised their weapons.

Coco shouted, "Ruby? Ruby, behind you!"

She pointed to Summer.

Ruby shooed her. "Calm down, Coco. That's my mom."

"Ruby, that's a Grimm!"

"I don't care! She's my mom!"

She took another step.

Coco spun up her minigun and barked "Don't come near us!"

Ruby reevaluated. She watched her friends, realized the severity of their reactions.

Nora adjusted her grip on Mjolnir. Cardin raised his shield and mace. Nebula cycled a dust-tipped bolt into her crossbow. Weapons and armor shifted to ready.

Ruby eyes keened, and she asked, "Where'd Pyrrha and Jaune go?"

Her mother answered, "They're atop the tower, Ruby. Everyone knows that."

Everyone backpedaled. Coco's eyes spread wide in horror.

Nora shouted, "Did it just talk?!"

Ruby looked up. Flames billowed from Ozpin's office. Lightning struck the tower, and Contempt circled close by.

Ruby checked her ammo. One mag of kinetic rounds- just enough to get there.

She had another magazine, empty.

She looked at the burning hulk of Crusader: Penny's sarcophagus. She rushed to its side and ran up the arm canon. A belt of high impact rounds fed into the gun. She followed it to the hopper and flipped it open.

She had Penny's sword on her hip, weeks' worth of memories, and now one last token. Penny's fatal selflessness could at least save Pyrrha.

Ruby pulled rounds from the hopper and rushed to force them into the mag. The first bullet jammed the spring. Ruby grit her teeth in frustration and tried to force it down. Her mother stopped her with a touch.

"Ruby. Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast."

Ruby nodded. She breathed. The bullet casing had an engraving. They all had engravings, random words tumbling like dying thoughts.

She pulled the bullet out of the magazine, refit it, and made precise work finishing.

She didn't say farewell to her friends. She found a good spot in the courtyard, looked up, took aim, and pulled Crescent's trigger.

The sudden ascent whipped her hair back. Her white cape billowed.

Summer flew alongside, her scythe ready, humming a tune.

Ruby fired the last kinetic round, swapped mags, aimed, and slowed as she made line of sight.

Adrenaline and focus slowed time.

She repeated, "Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast."

She saw Cinder, the isosceles archer, her bow taut.

And beneath her, Pyrrha, a kneeling sacrifice.

Ruby found her mark and exhaled.

"Close your eyes," Summer advised.

She did. It was like a day at the long range. Her finger squeeze, squeeze, squeezed, and the trigger clicked.

Crescent barked.

Cinder released her arrow.

The bullet passed her face, pulling her hair in the vacuum.

For a moment, it seemed that she'd missed.

But the bowstring had snapped. The glass line unfurled and sliced through Cinder's fingers. The arrow, still notched, whipped around. The head swiped across her face, and that was her last site of the mortal world.

Ruby's shell casing smoked and bounced on the tile floor, then rolled to a stop at Pyrrha, presenting her the engraving: "NO FATE."

Cinder screamed. She fell to her knees, clutching her face. The flames dissipated, and her form was once again bound in flesh and blood. Mostly blood.

She tried to stand.

Pyrrha scrambled backwards.

Cinder summoned glass to her hand as a dagger and lunged. Her foot caught on rubble, and she tumbled through the gash Contempt had left in the building. Her body clapped against another floor, then another, and another, and another as she fell from grace.

Summer hovered over the hole and smiled her Grimm smile after the Fall Maiden.

Ruby landed beside Pyrrha. Jaune slid to her other side and gripped her.

"Pyrrha!"

"I'm alive. I'm ALIVE!"

Ruby didn't interrupt. Motion had caught her eye on the horizon.

She asked her mother, "Is that a dragon?"

"It's a God, Ruby. Or, it's the shadow cast by the contempt of the gods."

"They don't like us?"

Her mother considered. "I think tonight proves that."

Ruby nodded. "Good. I don't like them, either."

Summer understood. She lifted Ruby by her armpits, and together they drifted toward the battle.


	82. Ashes to Ashes

Pyrrha watched her aural shield sparkle across her palms as it reformed.

She shouted, "I'm alive! I'm ALIVE! Jaune!"

He arrived at her side. She turned to him, and their lips brushed, then met and pressed in celebration. She wrapped her arms around him and they fell over together.

Jaune mumbled something into the kiss, then shifted her off. "Wait. Wait, Pyrrha. Cinder fell down the thing, but she might be alive."

The elevator dinged, announcing its arrival. Pyrrha looked up.

Jaune tilted his head back and asked, "Didn't that break?"

The door opened.

Headmaster Ozpin stepped into the office, regal as ever, and answered, "Nothing a bit of magic couldn't fix."

Pyrrha tried to stand. Her ankle exploded with pain. Right. The arrow. She winced and let Jaune slide out from under her.

He asked, "Headmaster! You're alive?"

Ozpin strolled past them to his desk, upright and smiling. But he murmured, "I am mortally wounded. I hope you'll forgive me, but I did just fight the Fall and Winter maidens."

Jaune scratched his head. "But… You look fine."

Ozpin reached his desk and found a mug there. He nodded. "Yes. Composure is a virtue. I don't have long, children. I'm only here to tie up loose ends. So, please pay attention."

He raised the mug and sipped his coffee, then spit it. Sour. He turned to face them. "I'm sure every breath you draw tastes sweet right now. But I'm so close to death… Even luxuries are bitter."

Jaune shook his head free of that topic and remembered, "Ozpin! Cinder was here! She's got magic powers! We were fighting her but then Ruby showed up and Cinder fell down the hole!"

Ozpin glanced to the scar bifurcating his room, then leaned over it to look down.

He asked, "Cinder Fall fell?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah!"

Not sparing a quantum of empathy, Ozpin hummed, "What a shame."

He lost interest, and instead moved to the Retinue Agent's corpse, where he knelt to check for a pulse. Jaune gaped. He whispered to Pyrrha, "Am I not being clear?"

Pyrrha tried, "Headmaster, she's still alive! We're in danger!"

Ozpin found a revolver beside Hikari. He flipped open the cylinder, saw the bullets all pristine and ready, and he frowned. "What a waste."

He pocketed the revolver and stepped over her, to join Pyrrha and Jaune.

Jaune shouted, "Headmaster, put your guard up! We're in combat! She could come back any second! And she's all-"

Ozpin scowled and waved a hand for him to stop. "Mister Arc, this was a plan many millennia in the making. Believe me when I say there are contingencies."

Behind him, something dark and swift dropped from the ceiling and down the deep hole.

Jaune and Pyrrha pointed and shouted. But again, Ozpin waved his hand. "Don't mind that. It's not for you to worry about. I'm here with you, and that means you're safe."

He grunted, then clutched his side and groaned. When he recovered, he added, "For another minute, at least. Pyrrha, could you quickly describe to me how you survived? Tell it like a fairy tale, please."

Pyrrha tilted her head. "What?!"

A line of blood dribbled from Ozpin's mouth, and he dabbed at it with his handkerchief. "Please."

Jaune protested, "But if you're dying, shouldn't we get you some help?"

Ozpin steeled his eyes and grit his teeth. "As I said. There are _contingencies_. Miss Nikos? Your story. Consider it a dying man's last wish."

She stammered, "I- uh- was kneeling. She struck me through the ankle-"

"The Achilles Tendon," Ozpin interrupted.

"What?"

"Nothing. Carry on. Quickly, please."

"She said it was Fate. But then Ruby came and shot at her. And the bullet-"

Pyrrha pointed.

Ozpin read the inscription on the shell. "No fate."

He raised an eyebrow.

Pyrrha finished, "Cinder's own arrow blinded her and then she fell."

Ozpin's eyes danced behind his glasses. He seemed to be thinking about it. Then he nodded happily and sighed, "All's well that ends well. But, Pyrrha… Why did you fight her? In the Archives, after Amber died, Glynda instructed you to run. But you came here to confront the Fall Maiden."

He turned the raised eyebrow on her. Pyrrha looked at the hole, expecting Cinder to reappear. They couldn't stand here and talk like this. But Ozpin seemed to have a plan. She gulped, then gasped for breath. She didn't understand Ozpin's mad demands. She never had.

But he said this was important. She tried to focus on his question, to remember her reasoning. Why come here? She'd wanted to run away and be with Jaune. Maybe there wasn't any reasoning. She had a feeling. She belonged here. She knew this was her place. Maybe she would die, but elsewhere, she would never have lived. And besides that, it had worked. How stupid could it really be?

So she stammered, "I… I guess I thought… We had a connection of some kind. And I could… Talk her out of it. Or if not… That I could stop her."

Jaune gestured to the hole. "Which… Seems to be working, so far…"

Ozpin furrowed his brow. He licked his lips, then cleared his throat. "Mr. Arc. That bookshelf over there. While we speak, could you please throw those tomes into that fire?" He nodded to a surviving flame.

Pyrrha grabbed Jaune, her fingers so tight the tendons ached. Instinct had acted before her rational mind. She didn't need to be afraid, right? The bookshelf was just across the room. She loosened her Grip.

Jaune was still with her, waiting. "Pyrrha?"

Ozpin asserted, "I'd like to see it done before I'm gone. This war is about information. And though we've won the night, the war continues."

She wanted Jaune by her side. Something about this separation, no matter how small, felt sinister. Pyrrha understood, suddenly: everything- the plan. A tear slid loose.

She faked a smile for Jaune, and released him.

"Go."

Jaune nodded and sprinted to the shelf. He was a quick worker, and a loud one, tearing books from the shelves and throwing them at the bonfire.

Ozpin demanded Pyrrha's attention. "You felt connected to Cinder. Like a sister?"

He knew.

She nodded.

Ozpin let out a soft cough. His smile resumed, warm and welcoming as if she were a first year again.

"Let's get you on a crutch. Here. We should find you some help on the ground floor."

She didn't move. She turned to watch Jaune, to memorize his image forever. She swallowed. Her crippled ankle kept her at Ozpin's mercy. He was here to tie up loose ends, to destroy information. She knew that he was older than he looked, and he knew that she knew.

Which made Pyrrha a loose end.

She looked up into his eyes. Ozpin was still smiling, offering her a hand so that they could stroll into the elevator. She didn't want to imagine the rest.

She wouldn't have to.

She asserted, "Here is fine."

Ozpin glanced to Jaune. His smile mellowed to a sad frown.

He nodded his acceptance. "You've done well, Pyrrha. No one can fault your effort. Sadly, this was all a gambit. And the gambit only succeeds if you become the Fall Maiden- and follow my instructions to the letter."

She felt cold. Her eyes watered, and she tried not to cry, for Jaune's sake.

Ozpin paused, his mouth hesitating as his mind sought a transition. "Pyrrha, I don't know how better to say this. I just thought I owe you an explanation. I suppose… I promised you something that was never really yours."

Exactly as Cinder had said.

Pyrrha shivered. They were all so disposable to him, like cheap dolls in a bin.

Her lower lip trembled.

Ozpin continued, "Remnant is a world of absolution. And of bloody evolution."

Pyrrha snorted back her tears and interrupted, "Just do it."

Ozpin stopped. His mouth hung open again. But now he was impressed. His smile returned, sharper. Through a sinister grin, he praised, "You're quicker than Athena was."

He drew the revolver.

It clapped. Eleven millimeters of Aura Piercing severed all feeling in her leg.

His finger flexed. Her gut rippled under the force.

The hammer dropped, and her shoulder shattered.

She shrieked.

But the fourth and fifth rounds burst her lungs.

Six and Seven destroyed her heart.

She fell back. Rain pattered against her face.

Ozpin turned the revolver on himself, pressed neatly against his temple.

Jaune shouted, "I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Not to worry, Mr. Arc," Ozpin monotoned. "You'll have your chance." And then the old man shed his mortal form.

The real tragedy in this, Pyrrha realized, was the brevity of her time with Jaune and her friends. The rest was bearable.

She could only make out his blonde hair through her tears. She tried to say his name, to caress his cheek. She could barely feel his hands gripping her shoulders.

She was dying.

Her hand fell under its own weight. Jaune's voice seemed distant. He vanished in the blurring of her sight, his golden hair dimming with the colors into darkness.

Even the rain and faded away, until only a smooth wind tickled her ears.

This was the end.

Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust.

Or…

Whatever this was.

The light returned to her eyes, slowly, waxing and waning like a tide. The splotches of color sharpened.

She saw the sky, blue and placid. Gentle clouds grazed across it for several minutes. She couldn't move or feel. Shock inhibited her. Something was tickling her body, like a waking limb, or thousands of ants, waving at the edge of her vision. It was like a blanket, just as golden as Jaune's hair.

In another minute, the shock abated, and her vision had finally returned.

She turned her head, to see the golden thing beside her.

Wheat.

She was in a field of Elysian Wheat.


	83. All the World's a Stage

Pyrrha lay in the wheat, counting seconds, wondering if they mattered.

Every moment drew her farther from Jaune. Maybe he would grow old with someone else. Maybe she would age like him, slowly dissipating until she was a shade haunting Remnant.

Her fingers and toes tingled. She flexed, and they moved. It was time to start this new adventure.

She stretched. She was transparent.

Her injuries had vanished, but pain remained: She missed Jaune. So not all wounds were healed. Maybe they never would be.

A face leaned over her- a woman, smiling in surprise.

"Hi," the stranger said.

Pyrrha waved.

The stranger turned away and shouted, "White! Orchid! Check this out! It's Pyrrha _Fuckin'_ Nikos!"

The stranger leaned closer and extended a hand.

Pyrrha accepted the help, and was pulled to her feet.

The field of grain extended to all horizons. The only landmarks were her three new friends, Retinue soldiers from Mantle.

Orchid grunted, "Huh."

White chewed a strand of wheat. He grinned, "Neat. Think there's one for each of us?"

Cherry put an arm over Pyrrha. "Well if there isn't, I've got dibs on this one."

Pyrrha shrugged her off. "Sorry. Who are you? And where are we?"

Orchid introduced, "We're Winter's Soldiers."

Cherry explained, "This is a big ol' field."

White pointed, "And we're on our way to the shore. That lion faunus said there's a lady there who knows her way around the Afterlife."

"And into the Elysian Isles," Orchid finished.

Pyrrha thought about it. There were no landmarks in the field. The sky glowed, but held no sun, nor stars.

She asked, "How are you navigating?"

Cherry looked to Orchid for an answer.

Orchid looked to White.

White looked at his finger, still pointing. "Uh… Let's call it Dead Man's Intuition."

Orchid corrected, "Actually, that's called Dead Reckoning."

Cherry whispered, "I think we're lost."

"Well…" Pyrrha hummed. She scanned the horizon, then admitted, "I'm lost, too."

White offered, "Wanna be lost together?"

Orchid argued, "Better than being lost alone."

Cherry nodded, "It'll make the gangbangs more interesting."

White frowned. "Cherry, could you fuckin' not?"

Orchid shook his head. "This is why the last five people said no, Cherry! _You_ open your mouth and creep everyone out!"

"I can talk all I want! Hikari's not here yet!"

"Well she needs to hurry up and die! You're getting out of hand!"

Pyrrha sighed. For a moment, she imagined making it back to her dorm and telling the story to her team. But that would never happen.

Their arguing became a shouting match.

Pyrrha shouted to be heard. "I'll go with you! Just… Don't yell the whole time."

Their march was long.

White took point and measured time in footsteps. After a while, he announced, "Hey, kiddos! We've walked far enough to circumnavigate Remnant twice!"

Orchid measured time by tapping the anthem of Mantle on his thigh. He answered White by humming the lyrics for a stanza.

Cherry, meanwhile, was counting down to her first kiss with Pyrrha, reckoning by the intimacy of topics discussed.

"Look, I'm just saying, 'what's your favorite food' isn't far off from 'what's your perfect first date?' And then we're just a hop and a skip from actually going on one."

Pyrrha sighed, "This would be an _awful_ first date."

White and Orchid stopped to laugh.

Cherry folded her arms.

Pyrrha continued, "I mean… We're literally in purgatory."

They carried on.

Three circumnavigations, four years, later- just as Cherry asked, "So, Pyrrha, what's your ideal partner like?" – Everyone stopped.

The shore sparkled just a few meters ahead.

Orchid mumbled, "Well that snuck up on us."

White nodded, "To be fair, we were probably walking in circles most of the way."

Cherry pointed to their side. "Uh… Guys?"

A plume of smoke rose from a campfire. Beside it stood a wagon overfilled with junk. A teepee stood in a clearing of the wheat. And just before the teepee stood three robed figures.

One removed her hood.

Pyrrha gaped. "You're Athena!"

Athena, Lady of Mistral, nodded.

The second figure lowered her hood.

The Winter Soldiers raised their fists.

Khali Belladonna raised a hand, for peace. "Believe me, I'd love to. But fighting here is futile. Case in point."

She gestured to the third girl, who lowered her hood.

Amber smiled sheepishly. "You're Pyrrha Nikos, right?"

Pyrrha nodded.

Khali whispered, "We should get the set ready," and wandered into the teepee.

Amber waved hello and goodbye, then followed.

Athena addressed to the Winter soldiers. She had a slow drawl to her actions; Time wasn't precious. She asked, "You here for guidance?"

Orchid stepped forward. "Yeah. We're looking for one of our friends. She's probably dead by now."

"Maybe. Time is a funny thing." Athena nodded to the sea. "Go check on her in the water."

"Do what?"

"Look into the water. Think of her. You will see her. You too, Pyrrha. Go see the people you care about. We're still preparing."

Pyrrha looked to the water. She wanted to see Jaune. No years of death could cure the pain. But she had to ask, "Preparing for what?"

"A play. For you." Athena vanished into the teepee.

Pyrrha walked to the water. The Winter Soldiers had their head start on the method. They all gathered around an image, swirling and ebbing with the waters, but otherwise clear.

Agent Hikari, laying in Ozpin's office, pale and almost drained from bleeding. She'd inched her way towards a necklace, and now caressed it with her thumb.

Cherry chuckled. "Called it. I fucking called it, guys. Hikari and Winter."

White thought, "I wonder if she can hear us."

Orchid cupped his hands to his mouth. "HURRY UP! YOU'RE ALREADY DEAD!"

Pyrrha walked down the sea, seeking privacy, and suddenly finding it. She couldn't hear their bickering or see the teepee. At her feet, the waters revealed Jaune.

The same office. Hikari's corpse in the background.

Jaune, through tears and agony, struggled to tear through a first aid kit. The pain overwhelmed him.

He curled forward, wrapping around Pyrrha, his eyes clenched shut against the truth, and wept her name like a mantra.

For all this time in the afterlife, she'd felt a sharp pain in her chest. The same pain was in Jaune's- would be until they were together again.

She wept with him until his image faded.

She sat against the sands.

And for a very long time, she sat in purgatory and watched the waves. She wondered what the Elysian Isles were like. Could she add another distance between herself and Jaune, and then feel _better_? Could she be at peace and still remember the world she had left behind? Or maybe that was the whole trick: That she would forget, and give up on inconsequential things like everything.

She heard footsteps.

Cherry arrived. She sat beside Pyrrha and waited quietly, to read the mood.

Pyrrha looked at her.

Cherry smiled and said, "So there are these three soldiers stuck on a deserted island. A genie bottle washes up on shore, and the genie will grant them each one wish. So the first soldier says, 'I wish I was at a resort getting off with- with, uh, a celebrity.' And poof, she's gone."

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. "And then the last soldier wishes her friends were back with her?"

Cherry licked her lips, stifled a smile, and mumbled, "Oh. You've heard this one?"

Pyrrha frowned. "It's tragic."

Cherry shrugged and tried not to laugh. "Anyway, there's, uh- a play. I'm supposed to come get you."

"Yeah." Pyrrha stood, and they returned to the teepee.

White held the flap open and gestured them in. Cherry went first. Pyrrha's spot had been saved just beside the entrance, opposite Athena.

The flap closed behind her, and Pyrrha sat in near darkness, Amber at her right and Cherry at her left.

Khali had a pile of items, which she distributed quietly while Athena spoke.

"I stay in this place to keep our traditions alive beyond the grave. Moving to and from Remnant can be… Disorienting."

She addressed the Winter Soldiers. "Usually it's just for us maidens. But I don't have enough people to hold up props."

Pyrrha asked, "Aren't there… More of you?"

Amber interrupted, "They're alive right now."

White asked, "Reincarnated? Can you guys help us do that?"

Cherry shook her head. "Fuck that. I'm not going back."

White corrected, "Good point. Can you tell us how to get to the Isles?"

Athena handed them both twigs and smiled, "If you promise to be very good pine trees."

The props all got sorted, ridiculous costumes and silly scenery.

Athena pulled a bone knife from her belt, and held open her palm, to show a scar. She looked at Pyrrha expectantly.

Pyrrha looked at her own hand, and realized, "You… You want me to… ?"

Athena nodded.

Pyrrha scooted forward and offered her hand. "I'm honored."

Athena opened her own scar, then held the knife in that bleeding palm. As she gripped it, her blood trickled into grooves along the blade. She pressed the tip against Pyrrha's skin, and there hesitated.

Pyrrha shifted her weight in anticipation. She looked to her left. The Winter Soldiers had vanished. She looked to her right.

Emerald smiled at her reassuringly.

She looked to Athena.

The Lady of Mistral explained, "It is customary to take a new name for a new life."

Pyrrha glanced again to Emerald. Was that Amber? Had the play started?

She stammered, "I-I-I uh, guess I'd like to be named-"

Athena interrupted, "I hereby name you… Cinder."

The knife pierced.

Cinder gasped, inhaling the chill Vale air.

Emerald chuckled and patted her shoulder. "Atta girl."

The cut finished, and Athena clapped her hand with Cinder's, forming the bond. The meeting of flesh tingled like a waking limb. Athena squeezed, compacting them, blood mixing, and a rush of power flowed into Cinder. For the first time, she felt the strength that the huntsmen always spoke of: Aura.

A piece of Athena was now part of her, forever.

Athena released her, and the wound was already healed, closed under that incredible power.

Cinder gaped.

Athena smiled, "We are family now, you and I. Let's go out and meet your sisters."

Cinder felt shaky on her feet, lightheaded with excitement. But as she exited the tent, her new family clapped and cheered. She smelled the smoke of their campfires, the pine cedars wafting around in the wind. Remnant's sun glinted in her glass armor.

And her sisters, a large semi-circle around her, prismed those beams into sparkly jubilation.

Penny shouted, "Con-GRA-tu-LATIONS!"

Neapolitan gave two thumbs up.

Raven nodded encouragement.

Cinder felt loved.

Then silence fell, suddenly. A harsh wind roiled the cedars. The rustling became a roar and swept away all joy. There was a newcomer: A man, in a brilliant, green scarf.

Athena brushed past Cinder and stepped forward. "Long time, no see, Old Man."

Cinder knew him as the bestower of the Fall Maiden's powers. In some ancient rite, he'd granted the seasons to mortals. He looked like an angry, old hermit.

"Yes," he nodded. "It has been a long time. The first Maidens promised to visit me every year. And so did their descendants. And so did you, Athena."

He leaned against his cane and crossed his legs. "But it's been six years."

He looked around the camp. "There is an underclass of starvation in Mistral. In the middle of your season, at the height of your power. And I see you're busy raising an army."

Athena pointed behind him. "We've been to the Great Valley. We've seen the Rain Warriors, and heard stories of the cavalry in Vacuo. It's a safe guess that Winter has done likewise in the North. We would be fools not to mobilize."

The Hermit frowned and stood from his cane. The grass bent away from him, forced by unrestrained power. He snapped, "I gave away these powers to help people- To bring order to the wilderness of Remnant. You do understand that if the seasons go to war, there will be consequences."

His glare turned to Cinder. She felt that same wave of power in him, like a chill wind piercing her soul. She stepped back until she felt others at her side: Nea and Khali.

Athena did not yield under that gaze. "A gift, once given…" She let her point trail away.

"You are correct," The Old Man nodded. "The powers are now bound to young maidens, and I do not qualify. But I am only here to talk."

Cinder felt the tension in her sisters. So it wasn't just her. Khali unslung her shield from her back. Nea stood closer to Cinder. Behind them, Raven used the concealment to notch an arrow.

Athena said, "You want to talk your way to peace? You'll be talking for a long time."

"I am willing to work with you, Athena, to address your concerns, until we find a peaceful resolution for everyone on Remnant. I am a patient man."

"Look where that got you."

The Hermit frowned, "But not that patient. Fine. You and I can work this out alone." He waved to the camp. "Tell them all to go home, Athena. Send them to their families."

Neapolitan stepped forward. She was a short girl, but her swagger and attitude had crushed a Goliath. She screamed "We _ARE_ a _FAMILY_!"

Ozpin sighed. He pinched his nose. Under his breath, he murmured, "Oh dear."

Nea took another step to him. "You can't tell us to just disband and lay-"

Ozpin raised a hand and snatched something as if from the air. Nea's lips kept running, but her voice had gone. And then Cinder realized, horrified, what he'd just done.

Nea covered her mouth. She tried to speak again, but nothing came out.

"I think you will find," Ozpin said, "That I _can_."

Nea's voice glimmered in his fist. He crushed it.

Raven raised her bow and released the arrow. The battle was sudden and fierce.

Khali grabbed Cinder by the hips and threw her under the wagon. She hissed, "Stay hidden!"

There were screams and spears thrown. Athena darkened the skies and struck with lightning.

Cinder was young and inexperienced in battle. She'd been present to fight some Beowolves once, but hadn't really seen anything from inside the formation.

Blood and magic scorched the air.

Raven fell dead before the wagon, her body bursting with vines and twining with the dirt.

Cinder whimpered.

Penny filled the air with throwing knives. A bolt of light petrified her, and the wind blew away her statue like a pillar of salt.

Seconds later, there was silence. Cinder uncovered her head. She scooted to the wagon's edge and tried to find life.

Wind blew through the camp.

She heard footsteps, then saw Ozpin.

She scooted back and made herself small.

Ozpin walked past the wagon, twirling his cane and whistling. Then he stopped and shouted, "Don't waste my time, Athena! Magic can't hide you for long."

He circled, surveying the scene. "And I know there are only two of you left. Some family."

He paced back. Cinder covered her mouth as he passed. He paused mid stride. She held her breath.

Ozpin asked, "Suppose I find young Cinder before I find you, Athena! What then?"

He gestured, and the wagon lifted.

Athena appeared in a whirl of flames. She screamed, and her scream was a blaze, wrenching skin from his bones and burning away his clothes and cane.

She stopped to breathe, and the damage unwound as if time had swiftly reversed.

Ozpin hummed, "This is futile, Athena. Your only move now is to die."

"If I die, the powers just go to another young Mistralite. You won't kill us all."

"No. But I am prepared to kill a great many of you if it means saving the world. I believe you will spare your countrymen. I have to believe that compassion exists in all of us."

The wagon flew away, and Cinder lay exposed.

Athena glanced to her, but kept her guard up against Ozpin.

He explained, "You get to choose, Athena. How many people will die?"

Athena thought. She swallowed, then ordered, "Cinder. Run."

She did, fleeing the sound of battle into the swaying pines, until the sound of wind in the cedars was like an ocean drowning her. She ran until night fell, then tripped and stumbled her way through the forest in exhaustion. She slid down a hill into a sward of thorns.

Escaping cut her to ribbons, but she'd found a path.

She walked quickly, catching her breath, stifling her tears, until she came to an abandoned shack.

Here, Emerald had taught her to fire a bow. An arrow still lodged above the window. She couldn't afford to cry. She had to be quiet and escape. Someone had to survive.

She leaned against the shack to breathe.

A twig snapped behind her, and she turned to see Ozpin, stoic and serene.

Now, there was no reason to hide. Cinder sobbed and fell to her knees.

She begged, "Kill me. Please, just do it quickly."

Ozpin placed a hand against his old home. "I'm going to let you go," he promised. "Not with your memory intact, of course. There's no reason for you to bear this pain."

A shadow appeared behind him, swift and quiet. Then two eyes shone in the darkness.

A girl whispered, "I did it."

Ozpin looked over his shoulder. "You used the glove?"

The fire of the Fall maiden blazed around the eyes.

Ozpin nodded. Turning back to Cinder, he explained, "I can't take the powers for myself. The workaround is self-explanatory."

He placed a hand against Cinder's head.

She whimpered, "I don't want to forget! I just want to be with them again! Copper. Raven. Athena. _Emerald!_ "

A sharp snap rocked her body, like a slipknot had unwound in her spine. A dull headache consumed her, then receded.

She was leaning against an old shack.

An old man had a hand to her forehead.

He, "Who?"

She didn't know.

She was bloody and out of breath. Had she been running? She felt fear. She scooted away and ran.

Into the woods, where the trees dissolved and a velvet curtain of darkness obscured all. Darkness like the edge of the universe was an arm's length away.

Fatigue and vertigo gripped her. She swayed on her feet.

A face formed before her, pale white. And from that darkness, trailing the velvet curtain as part of her dress, Salem stepped forward to catch her.

The grip felt familiar. She asked, "Are you Death?"

Salem silently nodded.

"Why does everything hurt? I feel like… I've lost something. I can't remember my name."

Salem answered, "The Wizard thinks he's taken all that you have. But he left you your pain. And with that, you can recover everything."

She thought, "But… To recover a whole lifetime would take a lifetime more."

"Yes," Salem nodded. "So I'm going to give you the secret to Eternal Health, Everlasting Youth, and Immortality."

Salem placed a hand against her stomach, then through.

It hurt. She gripped Salem's cloak, trembling from the pain. Salem's fingers wrapped around her rib, and with a violent tug, removed it. She curled up in Salem's arms, groaning in pain.

Death declared, "Someday, you will have your revenge. And so I will need a being that can reclaim your mortal soul. Something born from your lowest moment. A memento to the loss of your memories. Solipse."

The bone sprang to life, warping and reforming in the dark velvet, until she faced a Grimm in her own image. It stepped backwards into the darkness, and faded from view.

This had to be a nightmare. Monsters and murkiness. The Old Man. Death everywhere. She felt hopeless. And the only clear path seemed to be the detail of her name. What was her name?!

Salem whispered into her ear, "Now listen closely. There is a deed you must avenge. But go no further."

She remembered. "My name is Pyrrha."

She uncurled and sat up in the Elysian field. She shouted, "MY NAME IS PYRRHA!"

Cherry took a step back. "Fuck! We heard you!"

White asked, "Is that it? Can I stop being a tree?"

Athena nodded to him. The Winter Soldiers lowered their twigs.

Khali knelt beside Pyrrha and patted her shoulder. "It's not a fun play. But it's necessary."

Pyrrha wiped her eyes clear and looked at Amber. "So… Headmaster… The Wizard, he's been making you steal Athena's powers for thousands of years?"

Amber shook her head. "No. I didn't have anything to do with this until I went to Beacon Academy."

"He usually catches one of us off guard," Khali answered, "And convinces us we're the good guy fighting the bad guy."

Pyrrha shook her head. "I'm not sure anybody is the good guy."

Athena shrugged. "What's the saying? Don't meet your heroes."

She offered out a hand, to help Pyrrha up. She saw the scar inside the Maiden's palm. And as she reached to accept, saw the scar within her own.

Athena pulled her up. "But we're family now. And that's what counts."

Night had fallen in the afterlife. A dim glow revealed the Isles off the coast.

Pyrrha shook her head at heaven. She asked, "Cinder, too? She's family? After what she's done?"

Athena shrugged. "Blood runs thicker than water."

Pyrrha sneered at Amber. "What about you?"

"I can't bear to be in the same plane of existence as her," Amber admitted. "But, yes. Even as she enacts the atrocity that is Salem's Will, my heart aches for her." Amber held out her palm, revealing her scar. "And if you really accept this mark, you too will feel her struggles."

"I don't wanna bust up the whole family thing," White interrupted.

Athena tightened her lips in annoyance, but looked his way.

He pointed to the glow on the horizon. "How do we get to the Isles?"

Athena asked, "Do you have any coins?"

"Coins?"

"Round bits of gold."

"Yeah. I know what coins are. Who the fuck uses cash anymore?"

"The Ferryman."

The Winter Soldiers spent a moment thinking, then understanding.

Orchid's jaw fell slack. "You have _got_ to be kidding me."

White shook his head and marched at the sea. "Fuck it. I'm swimming."

Cherry and Orchid followed.

Athena waved goodbye. "You can try," she called, "But there's no telling where you'll end up."

Wayward Soul had a better ring than Purgatorial. Still, as they vanished in the waters, Pyrrha shuddered at the thought.

She had her coins, tucked away on her body, prepared for exactly this moment. But what were they worth to her, now? She didn't want to cross that final distance.

Athena read it on her face. She offered, "A part of you is still out there in Remnant. In the heart of that awkward, blonde boy."

"Jaune."

"Yeah. The Ferryman can't take you, then."

"What?!" Pyrrha had missed some detail of the conversation.

She turned from the water and read their faces.

Amber looked concerned. She offered, "You've noticed… That you're… Transparent, right?"

"Yeah."

"And that we're… _Not_."

"Oh," Pyrrha realized. "Why- Why aren't you guys?"

"Because we're dead," Khali said.

"And you're not," Athena finished.

Pyrrha didn't follow. She asked, "Why am I not-"

Athena repeated, "Because a part of you is still in Remnant, in Jaune's heart. Because you gave it to him in the Emerald Forest, on the first day that you met. You gave him a piece of your aura, to unlock his."

"I'm…?"

The maidens each placed a hand on her.

She heard his voice. A distant shout. She felt his hands compressing her chest. Her heart beat. She gasped.

"But we're glad you visited," Athena smiled.

"And we'll be waiting for you," Khali hummed.

She felt his hand on her heart again, and she covered it with her own.

His lips pressed to hers, and she breathed the air from Remnant. Her eyes opened to starry sky. She felt her back against the tile floor of Ozpin's office. And then Jaune's face was above her, crying with joy, his aura pouring into her and filling out her wounds.

Everything hurt. But she was ready to feel again the pain of love.


	84. The Fall

Fall is a season of change. Revolutions and harvests coincide. Warm winds suddenly turn, flags reverse on their poles, and the chill winter trumpets its coming.

Cinder fell just as suddenly.

In one moment, she saw the Wizard die.

In the next, she saw nothing.

She fell, impacting every floor, grunting, the world spinning around her. For another brief moment, she felt like she was floating. Then she struck tile. Her fingernails scratched at the floor, but her weight carried her down into the hole.

She landed on her back, somewhere quiet.

Everything hurt.

She breathed.

Why hadn't her eyes healed? She reached for the injury, fingers shaking, slowly approaching, dreading the hurt.

She found glass shards embedded in her skin. She touched her eyes- an agonizing throb- and moaned through the pain.

The arrowhead had shattered as it slit her pupils. She could feel the size of the chunks when she grazed them, occupying flesh and brimming with dust effects- a lightning crystal. That explained the constant twinge, her spasming cheeks.

Cinder sat up. Her balance hadn't returned.

She stood, focusing on the ground, orienting by the pressure against her feet.

Then she reached out a hand, and commanded the Fire of the Fall Maiden to see for her. But the powers did not answer.

Of course not: they project from the eyes.

Cinder swallowed. She felt tears on her cheeks, thick and slow. Blood.

Three millennia. How many tears had she cried in that time? How much blood had she lost?

She flexed her semblance, calling to glass. She felt computer screens. A snow globe. Vases by the windows. Panes framing motivational posters on the wall.

She'd fallen into a labyrinth of cubicles.

The Pain made her sway.

She caught herself against something stone, by its shoulder.

A statue?

With her other hand, she found the statue's face.

It stood slightly shorter than her. A girl. Hair past her shoulders, billowing as if she'd suddenly leaped away. And atop her hair, a ribbon where a faunus would have ears.

Shadowcat was here. Of course. Every labyrinth has a minotaur.

Cinder had felt this way before. In another dark maze, running through trees, certain she would die.

Fear.

She flexed. The glass all shattered and swarmed to her, shards misting into a cloud about her form. She had just enough for a shiv in the hand.

No matter how scared she felt, Shadowcat was more scared.

She would run from a fight, just like Adam.

Just like always.

But Cinder had to start that fight. She had to find the minotaur. How?

Shadowcat wouldn't make a noise, wouldn't move unless she felt safe. Cinder could spend the next thousand years stumbling through this maze and find only statues. Maybe Shadowcat had already run.

Gambol Shroud fired. Silk slid against a cubicle, and its blade swished through the air, then embedded in a wall.

Cinder needed her eyes; Direction and distance were lost to her.

She raised her shiv and offhand into a fighting stance. But Shadowcat did not attack.

Maybe a provocation would work. She steadied her voice.

Soft and smooth, she cooed, "Here, kitty, kitty."

No answer.

How many people had Shadowcat killed this way, in utter silence?

Cinder cast her glass cloud forward, felt the walls of her maze and the nearest corridor.

Silk ribbons slithered, and she swung the cloud around, searching. A foot landed next to her, and she slashed with the shiv, shattering another statue.

Gambol Shroud fired, then its other half answered from across the room. The two guns boomeranged past her in opposite directions, ribbon tails whispering on the air.

Psychological warfare. Or Shadowcat was preparing something elaborate.

Cinder stepped toward her exit. Her ankle brushed silk, a taut line in her path, and she understood a moment too late.

The guns fired again. The silk line wrapped her ankle and jerked, lifting her to the ceiling upside down. She yelped.

She swayed like a pendulum. Blood pooled in her head and poured from her eyes. Her heartbeat throbbed against the glass shards. She felt faint.

Shadowcat's guns fired again. Ribbons tied Cinder's wrists together, and the Blades embedded themselves in her arms.

She shrieked.

She swayed.

A Swishing sound rushed to her side, and a hand abruptly halted her. Through that skin contact, she felt Shadowcat's aura. Her soul, identifying her, finally. But not as Blake Belladonna. Blake was a façade for something insidious, ancient, and evil.

Cinder laughed. Even the mirth hurt.

The hand left her.

And Cinder called after, "I didn't recognize you with my eyes."

Silence.

She breathed. Her lips trembled. "I thought you were just a purgatorial soul, like thousands of others. But it was you. That was your eye, behind The Wizard. You killed Athena and stole the powers of the Fall Maiden."

Silence.

It all made sense now. She'd been blinded by the silver light behind Ruby's eyes. But Ozpin had placed them all together- lined up like chess pieces. Weiss, Ruby, and Blake.

What else did she know about the faunus? What was that creature's part in this?

"You're Khali's daughter. The monster she left in Chernobyl. That's what she meant. The fortune teller knew your crimes. That's how Noir knew to kill you. That's why your sentence expires here."

She realized, "To see if you've changed. Or… If you would do it again, given the chance."

Silence. So pure, Cinder heard her own heart- the straining of her veins when it beat- the steady drip of her blood on the floor. A palm cradled her cheek, inhuman, lacking in any warmth or aura. Because Shadowcat was wearing that cursed glove.

Cinder understood. "You will. You will always be a monster, Shadowcat."

The palm slid from her cheek, to cover her face.

Slime, acrid and thick webbed over her. Inside, legs and pincers clicked, carving flesh then bone. It squirmed into her skull, twitching into her sinuses, then around her eye sockets.

She couldn't breathe.

She couldn't scream.

But there was a scream. Contempt, its roar terrified and anguished, growing in volume and proximity, Screamed. Until it struck the tower.

An hour later, Yang Xiao Long opened her eyes and saw nothing. She couldn't move her right arm.

She couldn't move. She was trapped on her belly. Something heavy was on her back, her legs, her head. A lot of it.

She was buried.

She coughed. Rocks filled her mouth. They tasted like concrete. The air smelled like it. She heard flames cackling. She heard rain, torrential.

But where were they?

Where was she?

Where was her arm?

She'd finally groped at it, trying to inspect the numb sensation. But there was nothing over there. Her forearm ended in a nub, sparkling with aural shield. The very last piece of her soul. The one quantum. It was comforting to know that she hadn't given all of herself to Blake- That at least one small piece of her remained.

She couldn't feel her legs. She didn't want to check.

Yang sobbed.

Her heaves brought rock from her throat.

She had to stop crying, to breathe, to pick concrete pebbles from her mouth.

And in that pause, she heard a voice, faint but nearby.

Yang shouted, "Hello?"

And the faint voice answered. "Xiao Long."

"I need help! I'm trapped here!"

The stranger chuckled, weakly. "Aren't we all."

Her chuckling became laughter, louder, and Yang recognized the voice.

Rocks collapsed before her, and light bathed the cavern.

Yang was trapped in the wall of a hallway. An emergency exit placard burned on the floor- the kind they had in the basement. Across the hallway from her, Cinder Fall lay trapped on her back.

Blood and something viscous drooled from her mangled skull. One slashed eye stared vacantly at the ceiling.

Her body convulsed in laughter.

The flames singed her hair.

Yang found a rock in reach and threw it at her. "This is your fault!"

Cinder laughed and wailed.

Yang found another rock. But as she reached for it, a pale hand touched hers.

From the darkness, into the flames, came Salem and her crown of Embers.

Yang's breath froze.

Salem smiled at her, but then placed another hand on Cinder, and said to her, "I did warn you."

Cinder stopped laughing. She placed a hand over Salem's and squeezed with what might she could muster. "I'm not ready," she growled.

Salem slithered free of that grasp and answered, "But it's time." She extended her pale hand down the hallway, and she beckoned. "Solipse. She's waiting."

Something else had come. Yang heard it whispering in her mind. Paranoia consumed her. It was everywhere. It was behind her, tickling her feet. She tried to kick it away, to shift her weight and see it.

But then it was inside her, squirming. She gripped her stomach and screamed.

But then it was in front of her, standing in the hallway and staring her in the eyes. And it looked exactly like Cinder. She could have mistaken it for human, but its gaze held the same malevolence as the monsters she'd studied.

Solipse turned that gaze on Cinder.

Yang felt Joy. She had a chance to escape, while it focused on her enemy.

But as Solipse approached Cinder, Salem approached Yang and placed a hand on either shoulder.

She felt cold where Death touched her. She felt pain everywhere else.

Salem cooed, "Yang Xiao Long. Do you know who I am?"

Yang shook her head. "A-Are you a Grimm?"

"Yes."

Yang shivered. "Are you going to let me go?"

"You're in pain," Salem noted.

Yang nodded.

"Not just your body. I sense… Something deeper, far worse. You are realizing that she's left you. That Blake Belladonna is gone from your life, with all of your affection."

Yang trembled. Her tears resumed, and she nodded again.

Salem tilted her head sadly. "I can't make you feel better. But I can make all of this pain go away."

Yang punched her.

Salem retracted, offended.

But Yang gripped her cloak and pulled her back.

Still crying, still shivering, she shouted, "I'll never give up! I won't die here! I WILL NEVER! GIVE! UP!"

The fires rose, and the smoke turned black like a veil until she couldn't see Salem at the end of her own hand.

Cinder wailed in pain. And Yang screamed over her, still gripping Death.

"I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!"

The stones above her flew away. The shattered moon illuminated her, and rain quenched her skin. Still, Yang screamed, demanding Salem listen. "YOU CAN'T TAKE ME!"

Rough hands grabbed her, and Raven Branwen pulled her daughter to the surface.

Yang was gripping a pipe, yelling at nothing and no one.

She looked at her mother, shocked.

Raven smiled, her face free from bones, and breathed a sigh of relief. She hugged her daughter for the first time in decades, and assured her, "I'm here. Momma's got you."

Cinder screamed, "Raven?! RAVEN! SISTER!"

Her hand reached through the smoke, bloodied and begging.

Raven's smile hardened to a scowl. "I already told you. After Ozpin's dead, we aren't sisters anymore. I have a daughter now."

She threw Yang up onto her soldiers and leaped across the rubble.

Yang grunted as they landed, then braced herself as Raven jumped again. Cinder's screams grew too distant to hear. There was only rain now, and ashes, and moonlight. Raven's feet found asphalt, and she lowered Yang into her arms.

"Look," she said.

They stood at the cliffs over downtown. A black ball was retreating from the shattered moon, its tendrils casting wavy shadows over Remnant. The silver beams danced over a city of smoke and silence. No mortal powers lit Vale that night.

"So few people have seen Darkness like this," Raven mused. "What the world is really like before we lift a torch in the night. What it's like when our torches fail us."

Yang looked at her mother's face. She was smiling, her purple eyes sparkling. But she wasn't smiling at the city. She was smiling at Yang. She raised an eyebrow.

"Why is your aura gone?"

Yang sniffed back her tears. She looked away, to the city, and mumbled, "I gave it to Blake so she would heal."

Raven cringed. "That was stupid."

Yang nodded. "I thought she would give it back."

Footsteps sounded in the distance, but came swiftly. A huntress, panting. Raven turned to see Emerald Sustrai.

The Mistralite stopped, then dropped into a fighting stance. "Raven? Whose side are you on right now?"

"I'm not looking for a fight," she monotoned. Yang saw her mother's eyes flick red. The transformation was crisp and instant. Static electricity made her hair straighten and raise.

"But if you threaten my daughter…" Raven explained.

Emerald thought about it. She swallowed, then lowered her scythes. "Alright. That's… Okay. What are you going to do now?"

Raven shrugged. "Now that The Wizard is dead? I have a daughter. And the whole of Remnant. We're on our way to the safe zone. Atlas is making a caravan."

Emerald sheathed her weapons. She cast a glance to the tower, to the smoke and rain across Beacon, and asked, "Mind if I come with you?"

Yang shook her head and whispered, "I don't like her."

Raven frowned. "If I was you, Emerald… I would go back to the tower and rescue Cinder."

Emerald hesitated.

Raven finished, "She's all you have left in this world."

Emerald nodded. And then, understanding how true that was, she ran into the smoke.

Raven grew wings, black and massive.

It wasn't the craziest thing Yang had seen that day. She dropped the pipe and asked, "Do you know magic, mom?"

Her mother nodded. "Yeah. A little." She flapped her wings, building thrust, then lifting them up and forward until she was gliding over the Vale.

Yang enjoyed the sensation, and the way her mother's wings protected her from the rain.

She remembered, "Can't you use portals?"

"It doesn't work like that, sweetie."

"How does it work?"

Raven had her mind elsewhere. She said, "I can't stay with you long, Yang. You know now, about the Maidens and their powers. Or you will tomorrow. The whole world will. It's going to take another generation to forget. It's better that they forget. It's best that they never know. But I owe you an explanation."

Yang closed her eyes and let her arms dangle. The wind on her face was a sweet reprieve from the basement fire.

Raven's voice relaxed her. Though the bedtime story was a creepy fairy tale.

"I am one of the four maidens, Yang. I murdered Weiss' Grandmother, Nival's mother, to steal the powers. I did it because I was a naïve little girl, and The Wizard told me I was special. Then I went to a place called Chernobyl. Qrow told you this story, right? There's a piece he doesn't know. I met a ghost. I met many ghosts. And they told me of a wicked deed, of a long list of wicked deeds, gathered across lifetimes, that demanded revenge."

Raven hesitated. Yang cracked her eyes. The ground was approaching.

"I didn't know I was pregnant yet. I didn't realize that I had obligations. I should have said no. But I said yes. And they turned me into a monster. I became a Grimm, and Grimm have to kill to survive. So I killed. I killed until the deeds were avenged. Now I'm free of that foolish task. But another mistake remains. I have the powers that destroyed Vale. And the whole world wants them."

Her feet touched the ground.

Commotion surrounded them. The injured moaned. Doctors and volunteers scrambled and gave orders. Marines idled with their eyes on the perimeter. Raven and Yang stepped under a tent, where humanity was reduced to candlelight and bandages.

Someone turned to Raven and snapped, "Another patient?"

"I'm alright," Yang offered.

"She's a huntress," Raven explained. "Just needs a place to rest."

They were left alone.

Raven looked sad. "You'll be safe here, Yang."

"Are you gonna go?"

"I can't stay with you. I have to run, and be as far away from you as I can. That's all I can do to keep you safe."

She took a knee, and gently set Yang against the tarp floor. With a last touch of affection, a final smile, Raven said, "Don't beat yourself up about Shadowcat. About Blake."

Yang's lip trembled. Tears fell. "I shouldn't have… I shouldn't have given her my aura."

"She stole a lot more from me, Kiddo."

"But I was stupid. I thought I was in love."

"You were. You still are. But, Yang? You survived."

Raven pinched her cheek. "And I know this doesn't mean much coming from me. But I'm proud of you."

Yang nodded.

"Stiff upper lip," Raven ordered. "It won't be often. But I'll try to see you again."

Yang touched her hand.

Raven gestured to her side, and left through a portal.

When it closed, Yang rested her head back against the ground. She was tired. She was exhausted. She thought of Cinder burning to death in the Tower, and she smiled as her eyes fell closed. God Damn her.

Another huntsman entered, heavy feet, strong aura.

He shouted, "I need a doctor!" Yang cracked her eyes and sat up.

Uncle Qrow was there, Ruby cradled in his arms. He found a table for her, and a surgeon casually strolled over to inspect. The surgeon's eyebrows raised. He turned to another table, where three people frantically worked in tandem on a body.

The surgeon ordered, "Stop treating him. He dies. Save the huntress."

Yang asked, "Uncle Qrow?"

He found her, and delivered a hug of desperation.

"Uncle Qrow, is Ruby-?"

"I don't know, Yang. I don't know."

She'd never been hugged this tightly before. She'd never felt so alone. Qrow carried her out of that tent, to let them try to save Ruby. To spare Yang from watching.

In another tent, they found people praying separately. Quiet murmurs against the rain.

Yang asked, "Uncle Qrow?"

"Yeah, Yang."

"I thought… I thought Blake loved me."

"What?" He didn't know the story.

Yang tried, "I thought Raven didn't love me. Even after what you said. And I thought Blake did. But… She's gone, isn't she? She ran away."

"Your friend. Your teammate," Qrow remembered.

Yang nodded.

Qrow repeated, "Why'd your teammate run away."

"Yeah. Why didn't she… I thought people are supposed to stick together."

Qrow nodded, then exhaled stress. His mind was still on Ruby.

But for Yang, he said, "So imagine you've got this buddy in school. You help each other cheat on tests. When he gets a crush, you play wingman. When you're out in the field and your socks get soaked, he trades one with you. You eat together. You sleep together. You shit together. You party together. You live and die together. Then one day you're in a crossfire between the SRS and the White Fang and there's artillery boiling the ground beneath you. And out of nowhere this bullet, this bullet meant for you, whizzes right past where you should have been and smacks your buddy in the forehead. And his smile goes away forever, kind of slacks into this dull disappointment. And he's just dead."

Qrow licked his lips. "That feeling… It feels…"

"Bad?" Yang guessed.

Qrow shook his head. "It's the best feeling in the whole world, Yang. Because it wasn't you. And then, yeah, afterward, the guilt sets in. And you wonder you wonder why you survived."

Emerald Sustrai heard Cinder's screams. Her cries for help.

She jumped up the rubble pile, then looked down into a hole, into a burning hallway filled with smoke and Grimm Dread. She could feel one in there, large and angry.

Cinder was struggling. There was a fight, desperate and vicious. And Emerald was afraid.

She hesitated.

"Cinder! Cinder, are you in there?"

Cinder shouted. Something heavy hit something soft. And the fight ended. There was only rain, and the sound of steam where it touched fire. Smoke billowed from the hole.

Emerald's heart squeezed tight. She cried, "Cinder!"

No answer.

Her legs felt weak. She didn't want to go in there.

She didn't have to.

A shape formed in the smoke, and Cinder emerged. Half of her face was gone.

The remaining eye had deflated and hung loose.

Emerald covered her mouth in horror.

Cinder got an arm up, then hoisted herself from the hallway.

In her fist, she gripped a rib.

"Oh my God. Cinder."

Cinder pointed her face at Emerald, then put her feet under her, and wearily stood. She took cautious steps, struggled on a broken leg, and finally fell into Emerald's arms.

Emerald shook. She wasn't a doctor. And Cinder wouldn't be alive much longer.

Nothing could survive in this state.

Cinder smiled. She gripped Emerald's shoulder, and raggedly inhaled.

"Cinder, are you-"

She interrupted. "Do you want to know the secret to Eternal Health, Everlasting Youth, and Immortality?"

Emerald was too shocked to answer.

Cinder hissed, "Life. Is. Suffering. So long as your feet never leave the coals, you will live."

Emerald didn't know what to say. So she hugged Cinder tighter, and said, "I came back for you, Cinder. I was scared, but I came back for you."

Cinder wrapped her arms around Emerald. "After all I've put you through," she hummed. "I deserve this."

Emerald shook her head. "But I _don't_ , Cinder. Don't leave me alone in this world."

Cinder sighed, happily. Her shoulders relaxed, and she rested her head against Emerald.

Emerald shook her. "Cinder! You can't die!"

"It hurts, Emerald." She smiled. Her shoulders stiffened, and she raised her head. "But you did come back for me, didn't you? Because our family means something to you."

With a thumb, she brushed Emerald's cheek. "More than just tears in the rain. I tried to do you right, Emerald. I was here for revenge, but I tried to keep your hands clean. I just… I needed your help. I tried to teach you what you'd taught me. That's why I took you to the Wizard's shack. To our graves. To all the familiar trails we'd walked. To the fork in the road. But after all these years, I've lost my vision. You were right, Emerald. We're walking in circles."

Cinder was contradicting herself, her own teachings, her Better Way. She was ready to give in and die. Emerald, spiteful, threw a quote back in her face. "This is what it means to be the Remnant, Cinder. Never Stop. Keep moving forward."

Cinder renewed her hug, and her laughter. "That's right, Emerald. That's right. Isn't this funny? Now I'm the one who's blind. And I need you to show me The Way."


	85. The Ashes

Shadowcat crouched in the ashes.

Beacon Academy was now rubble on a cliff- rebar and Concrete in disarray.

She liked the silence. The particulate cloud falling around her looked like a storm of curtains, waxing, waving, and swirling as the detritus pooled on the mess like snow.

She liked the neutral temperature, and that cement dust obfuscated all other odors.

She closed her eyes.

She was alone.

She'd wanted this since her first night in that cage in Chernobyl- to be the last one standing atop the highest hill, this three-meter mound of debris.

She wasn't afraid anymore. Relief swept up from her spine. She sighed the tension from her body and shivered.

Her lips curled into a smile, and she giggled.

She laughed.

She covered her mouth, to restrain herself, to honor the struggle that had brought her here.

To honor her dead friends.

And to commemorate that little girl in the cage, Shadowcat whispered an assurance to the past.

"We did it, Blake. We lived."

Blake Belladonna cried.

They crouched there for a long while, celebrating and commiserating, until something rummaged nearby.

A White Fang soldier climbed her victory mound. He spotted her and stopped. He raised his mask. "Blake?"

Perry. A friend. Or at least an admirer. At the embassy, he'd run instead of trying to kill Blake.

Shadowcat lowered her gaze to her feet, and resumed her quiet contemplations.

Perry coughed cement dust and took a step toward her. "Blake, are you alright?"

Someone emerged from the rubble beside him.

Another Blake. "Not really," she answered.

Perry took a step back and did a double-take.

Two Blakes. And they'd both moved.

Could she move her shadows now? Which one was which?

He shook his head and remembered his priorities. "When the fighting started, I hid in the dorms. But…" He made a vague gesture. "Well, they're gone now. Have you found anyone else?"

Blake folded her arms and shook her head.

Perry huffed and tried to catch his breath. Inhaling all this concrete was probably taking decades off his life.

Blake, the one he was talking to, didn't breathe at all.

"Hey… Is that blonde girl okay? The one on your team? Yang?"

Blake frowned. "I don't know. I left her."

Perry raised his eyebrows. "You what?"

"I abandoned her and tried to run away."

Perry cringed. There weren't enough pejoratives for his disappointment. So brutal honesty was all that remained. "Blake… When you left the Fang… You gave us hope. I thought I could escape and become a good person. Like you."

Blake's eyes fell. She couldn't meet his gaze.

Perry shook his head. "They're calling me Razor Tooth. I thought… I thought, if Blake can stop being Shadowcat…"

He let her figure out the rest.

Blake didn't react.

Perry scoffed and crouched in the ashes.

Frustration overcame him. He shouted, "Well aren't you going to _look_ for her?!"

Blake shook her head. "The person she wants doesn't exist, Perry. There's no point finding her until-"

"Oh, fuck off, Blake! She might need your help right now! Aren't you worried she might die?"

Finally, an emotional reaction. Blake's lips trembled.

Rubble shifted. Beside them, a slab lifted.

Coco appeared underneath. The slab fell, and then her second heave tossed it away.

Perry leaned over the hole to see her in the basement hallway.

Coco raised her minigun.

Perry raised his hands.

To her side, Coco shouted, "Hey, everybody! I think I found the surface!"

Velvet, Cardin, and Nebula walked into the light.

Blake asked "That's everybody? Just four of you?"

Coco lowered her minigun and thumbed to Agent Hikari's corpse. "Five, if you count this poor bastard."

Her team chuckled at the dark humor.

Shadowcat grinned.

Blake frowned.

Perry offered his hand, and the huntsmen climbed from their hole.

Blake stood transfixed on the corpse.

Coco noticed her vacant expression. Up close, she could see the flickering of Blake's form, the transparency as ash washed through her. And over her shoulder, atop a hill, the real Blake scowled at the landscape.

Coco addressed the shadow. "Hey, Blake?"

The shadow blinked, then met her gaze. Coco licked her lips. Everything was so dry it hurt. "Blake, I know it's probably been a long night for you. Everybody has to make decisions. Whatever you had to do… I'm thankful you survived."

Blake nodded. "You too."

Coco left Blake with her White Fang friend.

She had her new team to address. They'd gotten to know each other real well, buried alive for the last hour. Nebula and Cardin circled up to hear the next plan. Velvet distractedly scrubbed dust from her ears.

Coco started, "I'm lovin' this fresh air."

Cardin shook his head and chuckled.

Nebula smiled for the first time that night.

Velvet squinted across the field of detritus. "There might be others," she noted.

"Yeah." Coco looked for a vantage point. She pointed. "Velvet, get up there with Blake and keep track of us. We'll split up and-"

The slab below her lifted like an elevator. Glynda Goodwitch climbed out from under.

Dusting herself off, she asked, "Didn't I hear Miss Adel? Where is she?"

Everyone pointed up. Glynda gestured her wand, and Coco descended again.  
"Hi, Professor. Wanna' help us find people?"

"Certainly. Let's start there." She flicked her wand down range, and a teepee of support beams slowly shifted out of place to reveal Pyrrha Nikkos.

Pyrrha lay nestled in a small pocket, reclining with Jaune Arc in her arms.

Cardin breathed, "Shit."

Velvet frowned.

Nebula looked away and rubbed her forehead, remembering her own dead friends.

Coco exhaled her stress. She reminded herself that this was part of leadership. That her friends would die. And she would have only words for them. She approached and prepared herself for the worst- for Pyrrha's lamentations.

She walked slowly, to collect herself.

As she reached them, she took off her beret and held it at waist level.

Jaune looked peaceful.

But she'd always known him by his aura. The guy had been a ray of hope for everyone. He'd taught Coco how to joke. Seeing him this close, standing over him and not feeling his aura- it wasn't a good feeling.

Coco stayed in that discomfort for Pyrrha's sake. Her muted crying hurt as much as Jaune's death.

Still, a lot of people didn't get to leave corpses this nice.

Coco decided to announce herself. "Hey, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha raised her head. She was smiling through the tears.

Jaune cracked his eyes, then a stupid smile. He raised a thumb to show he was fine.

Coco sighed and snapped her beret back into shape. "Dammit, guys. You got me worried for nothing."

She shook her head and donned the beret.

"He saved me!" Pyrrha giggled.

"Remember how…" Jaune breathed. "Remember how we thought… I didn't have… A semblance?"

"I was dead!" Pyrrha gasped.

"I was trying to push my aura onto her. And all of a sudden- My whole aura, all of it-"

"There was this bright light! He-"

Coco nodded. "Yeah, cool." She wandered away to find more survivors.

Blake's friend raised his voice. He was arguing with Blake's shadow, and helping her heft the Retinue Agent's corpse from the hole.

That effort, of all this night, seemed the most futile. Fatigue seized Coco. She was too dizzy to stand. Her legs wobbled as she crouched and lay down to pass out.

Perry grunted and exited the hole. He gulped and tried to carry the corpse at arm's length. "Blake, I don't feel so good about desecrating a body."

"We're not desecrating it, Perry. The Retinue burn their dead."

He squinted. "What?! Really?"

"Customs vary across cultures." She tried to smile. It was faint enough that only their old friendship revealed it to him. "You've got a lot to learn, Perry."

"Alright. But… I mean, I don't wanna mess with her body, but I don't wanna give her funeral rights, either. Blake…" He shook the body. "They're the bad guys!"

"So were we, Perry. But it's all behind us."

He dropped the body. "No, Blake! It's not behind us!"

Blake folded her arms. "Perry, you said you don't want to be Razor Tooth. You don't want me to be Shadowcat."

She waited for him to answer.

Perry nodded. "Yeah."

"Then we have to put it behind us, Perry. The malice has to end somewhere. Death seems… An appropriate line."

She pointed up the mound. "Come on."

Perry looked up the hill, at Blake, then beside him, at Blake. He frowned. "Alright."

Dragging the corpse took a while. Perry had never been comfortable with death. It didn't help that Blake only walked beside him as a melancholy shadow.

He reached the top panting. Velvet Scarlatina flashed a pained smile as a hello, then used her hand as a visor, and watched her friends navigate the terrain below.

He asked Blake, "Where, uh, do I put her?"

He hefted Hikari's body. Blake pointed to a pyre of wooded overgrowth. Perry blinked at it. When had that grown? He'd just been up here. This was the same hill, right? This was the only hill. How had a tree grown atop the rubble in the shape of a bed? He raised an eyebrow at Blake. She shrugged.

Perry lifted the body onto the bed and sat beside it. He had flint and dura-steel in his kit, so he set to work starting the fire.

Velvet called out instructions to her friends.

Sparks tickled the wood.

Perry glanced to his side, where Blake's shadow crouched and watched him work.

He mumbled, "So… Blake, I wouldn't be your friend if I didn't nag you."

She nodded in agreement.

He nagged, "Go find your girlfriend."

She kept nodding. "Yeah. Someday. The killing has to stop somewhere. But not yet. I'm going to kill a few more people. That's why I can't go back to Yang. Because I'm not ready to be the person she loves."

Perry paused his tinkering. "Who you gonna kill?"

She didn't answer.

He turned to her. The shadow had vanished. He looked at her body, crouching in the ashes. She hadn't moved since he'd found her, but now she looked up and opened her eyes.

They eyes sparkled like coals in a pit.

The ocean breeze swirled the ash curtains into a livelier dance.

She answered, "I'm going to kill Adam."

Perry gulped. "But… Then the Fang won't have a leader, Blake."

"Yes, Perry. You will." Her eyes blazed, and the pyre ignited with the flames of the Fall Maiden.

Perry gaped.

The ocean breeze rose to a roar, and the smog swept away from them all at once, pulling back the curtain and revealing the whole of Vale and its starry night.

Moonlight bathed them and reflected on the tower's support beams, glittering in the gold that Cinder had created and waxing pale across everything else.

Otherwise, their pyre was the only light in Vale that night.

An hour later, strangers came to that light. A column of Atlas' marines and Vale's Rangers found Jaune and Nora standing guard.

A shirtless cyborg stepped forward- half-man, half-machine, split straight down his torso- and extended a hand.

"General Ironwood," he introduced.

He looked like he'd clawed his way through the horde by hand.

Jaune accepted the handshake, and the general noted, "You fight with a sword and shield?"

"Yeah."

"But you don't have an aura."

"Not anymore," Jaune shrugged. "And besides, neither do these guys."

He gestured to a marine, and got a thumbs up in response.

Ironwood chuckled. "I like your spirit. Is it safe here? We've got a lot of civilians with us."

Nora shrugged, "It's been quiet."

Jaune coughed. "Yeah. We, uh, fought off the White Fang."

"Don't say it like that, Jaune."

"How should I say it, Nora?"

"We _wiped out_ the White Fang infiltrators, _Silenced_ the Shadow Pact, and _Ground Out_ the Grimm! Then we the _Finished_ the Fall Maiden and LITERALLY KILLED A DRAGON!"

"Wyvern," Jaune corrected.

"WHATEVER! The safest place on Remnant is right behind us! And the most dangerous is in front!"

Jaune grinned. "Yeah, I guess so. Oh," he turned back to Ironwood. "And we destroyed the captured Paladins and the really big Paladin."

"And the evil robot army," Nora finished.

Ironwood's smile had faded to a look of concern. He offered, "And I thought we had it bad."

Jaune looked across the valley. "Weren't you guys going to escape through the forest?"

Ironwood sighed, "Best laid plans. We saw the beacon and decided it was safer here."

He pointed to the pyre.

His eyes lingered. "Glynda?"

Professor Goodwitch turned out of a stern conversation with Coco. Her expression softened. "James?"

He brushed past Cardin and embraced Glynda in a hug that startled her.

"J-James! Hold on."

"I replaced half of my heart with Iron. I want that half back. What will it take?"

Glynda stammered, "W-what? James, what-"

"I'm done playing soldier, Glynda. What will it take to get you back? I'll retire. I'll give up ruling the world. My kingdom for you."

Glynda understood. She relaxed, and returned the hug, resting her head against his heart. "That's a good start, James."

Coco didn't notice the conversation beside her. Her face rested slack and expressionless, her eyes rimmed by fatigue, pupils focused far past the horizon.

It was she who first saw.

Dawn broke across Vale and blinded her.


End file.
